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Studies in the 


BY 


REV. J. DEWOLF ‘PERRY, A.M., D.D. 


Vice President and Warden of The Church Training 
and Deaconess House, Philadelphia, Penn. 





PHILADELPHIA 
GEORGE W. JACOBS & CO. 
PUBLISHERS 


Copyright, 1925, by 
GEORGE W. JACOBS & COMPANY 


All rights reserved 


PRINTED IN U. S. A. 


PREFACE AND DEDICATION 


With much hesitation I am yielding to re- 
peated requests made by members of my Bible 
Classes, and by my students at “The Church 
Training and Deaconess House,” where I have 
been teaching more than thirty years, that I 
would give to them in permanent and accessible 
form, an epitome of what they have been taught. 
What is offered here does not claim to be either 
original or new, but attempts to present, in a 
condensed and convenient form, results of en- 
quiry and study which have been helpful to 
thoughtful minds, and have answered questions 
which naturally occur to intelligent readers and 
students of the gospels. What has been helpful 
to some may be useful to others. Contrary 
opinions and conclusions are not discussed. 
They could not be given space in this brief 
manual; they may be studied in books of which 
some are named in the following pages. A 
teacher who intimately knows those who study 
with him can anticipate and answer many doubts 
and difficulties before they are expressed or for- 


mulated, or even consciously entertained. Thus 
iii 


iv PREFACE AND DEDICATION 


he avoids the danger of suggesting and increas- 
ing doubts, while forearming the mind with in- 
structions by which doubts, as they arise, can be 
fearlessly met and effectually overcome. In 
using this method, he is following, however re- 
motely, in the way of Him who “knew their 
thoughts,” and answered the unuttered question- 
ings of His disciples. 

With humble and trusting spirit this little 
book is affectionately dedicated to those with 
whom many delightful hours have been spent in 
mutual study, and of whom numbers can be 
found in all parts of the world, trained teachers 
and workers, imparting and applying and exem- 
plifying the “glad tidings of great joy which are 
for all the people.” 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER PAGE 
PAL MLO IRAT SADSPELIN bre Cea anne ates thre 1 
Dip oD: GOsPpeL  WREPTENG LY occ es cree Nk 
III THe Gospen AccorpiIne To St. Mark. . 18 


IV Tue GospeL Accorpine To St. MatrrHew 36 


V Tue Gospen Accorpine to St. Luke. . 46 
VI THe Gospen Accorpine To St. JoHN. . 59 
ey int COUR A ORIN (cc mba ach enn Nie Gd ae 
VIII AN OvTLINE oF THE Lire or Jesus. . 76 
APPENDIX 
WITNESSES AND EVIDENCES IN THE FIRST AND 
SECO DA GEN TURIN pitting vinta te Ne COuea tN yay NETIC 
SECA TACO MBS a hs inane On usa itech Latuard eae au Mas ea ah eh ee 


DIAGRAM ILLUSTRATING THE SYNOPTIC PROBLEM 95 


Tue Logia oR SAYINGS OF JESUS. .. . . 96 
THe Hrerops WHo RuLED IN PALESTINE. . . 97 
Dew ROMAN JUMPERORS Woke unin ue ceu mie esi OO 


THe RECKONING By ANNO Domini... . 99 


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Studies in the Gospels 


I 
THE ORAL GOSPEL 


The name “Gospel” is an old English word 
meaning “good tidings,” which is the accurate 
translation and equivalent of the Greek name. 
It re-echoes the announcement made by angels to 
the shepherds of Bethlehem, “Behold I bring 
you good tidings of great joy.” The Gospel was 
first given to men in the form of a Living Person, 
in whom it was embodied, and by whose life it 
was exemplified, and who declared, “I am the 
Truth.” 


‘‘And so the Word had breath, and wrought 
With human hands, the creed of creeds 
In loveliness of human deeds, 
More strong than all poetic thought.’’ 


There is no evidence that Jesus wrote any- 
thing except that which He traced with His fin- 
ger on the ground, where passing feet would soon 

1 


2 STUDIES IN THE GOSPELS 


erase it.1 His chosen witnesses were not com- 
missioned nor commanded to write, but to 
preach and teach. How they did this is indi- 
cated in their early sermons and addresses, 
which are briefly reported in the Book of the 
Acts of the Apostles. So long as many contem- 
poraries and eyewitnesses were living to tell by 
word of mouth what they knew of Jesus, no need 
of written testimony was felt; but as the number 
of these was gradually reduced by death, and as 
Christianity spread to other countries, making 
converts who could neither meet nor hear the 
Apostles, a written Gospel was needed and de- 
manded for the use of such Christians as were 
addressed by Peter in his words, “Whom not 
having seen ye love; on whom, though now ye 
see Him not, yet believing, ye rejoice greatly, 
with joy unspeakable and full of glory.” ? 

We are so abundantly supplied with what is 
either written or printed, and we are so depend- 
ent upon it for our knowledge, that it is difficult 
for us to recall and realize the circumstances 
and conditions of that early age, when books 
were few and costly, and when ability to either 
read or write was exceptional. Few households 
possessed a manuscript, even of any part of the 
sacred Scriptures, knowledge of which depended 


1I John 8:6. 
2J Pet. 1:8, 


THE ORAL GOSPEL 5) 


largely upon hearing them publicly read in the 
synagogues and Christian assemblies.t The 
power of memory which we have weakened by 
employment of aids, they made retentive and 
reliable by enforced exercise. An illustration 
of this ancient habit is furnished by the old 
transmission of the Targum, which was the 
translation and interpretation of the Hebrew 
Scriptures given to the people in the Synagogue. 
This remained unwritten for centuries, it was 
preserved and transmitted orally among the 
scribes, jealously guarded as a sacred heritage. 
The strict Hebrews of Palestine, having for their 
sacred Scriptures extreme and even super- 
stitious reverence, were disposed to look with 
disfavor and suspicion upon any religious writ- 
ing which might seem to compete with them, or 
to divert attention from them. They did not in- 
clude in their Bible the Apocryphal books which 
were contained in the Septuagint. The Septua- 
gint itself was not in favor among strict Jews 
of Judea, but was regarded as a weak and 
wrong concession to the Gentiles, and by some 
was declared to be a national reproach and 
calamity likened to the making of the golden 
calf at Mt. Sinai. The Christian Hebrews, al- 
though rising above such prejudice and bigotry, 
may have felt unconsciously the influence of this 
1Col, 4:16, 


4 STUDIES IN THE GOSPELS 


religious atmosphere in which they lived, and as 
a result were in no haste to write their oral 
Gospel. 

It should be borne in mind that the first. 
Christians were not without a written Bible, 
they had the Old Testament to which they 
appealed to prove that Jesus is the Christ. This 
was their Bible, a record of God’s progressive 
revelations to man. In it they found abundant 
witness to their Master, and confirmation of 
their message in declarations given in advance 
by prophecy and type of what He would be, and 
would teach, and would do. From its begin- 
ning, the Christian religion held a Bible in its 
hand. “Search the Scriptures,’ said Jesus, 
“they testify of me.” * “Had ye believed Moses, 
ye would have believed Me for he wrote of Me.” ? 

The expectation that Jesus would return in 
person while that generation was still living, 
also would tend to make them content with an 
unwritten Gospel. At first His promises that 
He would return in spirit, and would come in 
judgment upon the world were misunderstood. 
As years passed and men scornfully asked, 
“Where is the promise of His coming?” * they 

1 John 5:39, 46. 


2 John 5: 46. 
STI Pet. 2:4, 


THE ORAL GOSPEL 5 


re-examined His words of promise, and learned 
that His return in person was not so near as 
they had supposed. This change of opinion and 
of expectation resulted in a desire to have and to 
transmit a permanent record of the life and 
teaching of Jesus. 

During many years after the Ascension the 
Apostles remained in Jerusalem, offering the 
gospel to the Jews and Jewish converts. Very 
slowly, and with hesitation, they reached the 
conviction that Gentiles were to be made “fellow- 
heirs” and sharers of the Gospel on equal terms 
with the ancient and chosen people of God, and 
that they did not need to become members of 
the Jewish church in order to become Christians. 
Even when other Christians “were scattered 
abroad” by Jewish persecution, the Apostles 
remained in Jerusalem,? maintaining and 
strengthening Christianity at that centre, be- 
lieving that this was God’s will, and a fulfill- 
ment of the prophecy, “Out of Zion shall go 
forth the law and the word of the Lord from 
Jerusalem.” ? 

During these years of intimate companionship 
and united work, the oral Gospels which they 


11II Thess. 2: 3-7. 
2 Acts 8:1. 
3Isaiah 2:3. 


6 STUDIES IN THE GOSPELS 


believed, and taught, as “the faith once for all 
delivered to the saints,” * became essentially one. 
Freedom of thought, and individual minds might 
give to it different expression, and give different 
emphasis to certain facts or teachings, but in 
substance it would be one and the same. This 
oral Gospel was one of the sources used by the 
evangelists, and must be kept in mind when we 
compare their written Gospels one with another. 


4J ude 3. 


II 


THE GOSPEL WRITTEN 


Although the Gospels are placed at the be- 
ginning of the New Testament, they were not 
in the order of time the earliest of its writings. 
They were preceded by letters of instruction and 
exhortation addressed to confessed Christians, 
who in a hostile world were trying to practise 
what Jesus had taught, and were trusting his 
promise that in doing His will they would know 
of His teaching,’ and by the prompting of His 
Spirit would be led gradually into all the truth. 
It is significant that first were written not nar- 
ratives and memoirs of the life and teachings of 
Jesus, but directions how to follow Him and to 
exemplify in the world what He had taught. We 
are prone to forget that the Christian religion 
depends for its acceptance and extension not so 
much upon what is recorded and may be read 
and studied, as upon the living witness of 
those who bear His name and show how “we 
ought to walk and to please God.” It is well 
known and generally admitted that contempo- 


1 John 7:17. 
7 


8 STUDIES IN THE GOSPELS 


rary letters furnish valuable material for his- 
tory. They indicate the conditions and the 
prevailing spirit of the time. If the Gospel 
narratives never had been written, or should 
they now disappear and fade from memory, 
their essential truths and practical teachings 
could be gathered from the apostolic epistles. 

In providing four records of the one Gospel, 
God has showed His wisdom and goodness. 
Human writing and language even at their best 
are inadequate to convey divine truth. The 
writers of the Gospels admit that they tell 
partially and imperfectly the story of good 
tidings. Each makes his individual contribu- 
tion to the whole. By combining and compar- 
ing what they give we gain a deeper, clearer, 
and more complete impression of what Jesus 
was, and said, and did, than we could receive 
from any one of them alone. In order to see 
objects on more than one side at a time, we are 
provided with two eyes, differing slightly in 
their focus, and range of vision. By this 
binocular vision we gain more complete and 
correct perception than we could have by using 
only one eye. The Creator who made this 
provision for our knowledge of material things, 
has made a like provision for our knowledge of 
Himself through the Son Who came from the 
bosom of the Father to reveal Him. A simple 


THE GOSPEL WRITTEN 9 


and familiar application of binocular vision 
is made in the stereoscope, which places 
side by side two slightly differing pictures, 
producing an impression of the object which 
gives perspective, relief, and solidity, such 
as could not be had by looking at a single 
picture. In the four Gospels placed side by 
side Jesus is set before us as in life. The 
slight differences, no less than the substan- 
tial agreement in these four portrayals, combine 
to make one vivid impression. 

Another valuable result of the fourfold. pres- 
entation of the Gospel is that it attracts and 
interests a larger number and greater variety 
of minds. Not all minds think along the same 
lines. Some will be interested and impressed by 
one of the Gospels more than by another. For 
instance, the brief dramatic story told by Mark 
may specially appeal to one person, and the 
meditative mystical treatise of John to another. 
An uncut diamond shines with a radiance which 
appears to stream from the pure full heart of the 
gem, but if four facets are cut upon its surface, 
through these it will increase and distribute its 
light. So He who both declared and showed 
Himself to be the light of the world, will shine 
into one mind or another according to the side 
on which He is approached, and the angle from 
which He is seen. Herein appear our Heavenly 


10 STUDIES IN THE GOSPELS 


Father’s loving purpose and desire to “give the 
light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the 
face of Jesus Christ.” * 

The titles given to these four Gospels indicate 
what we have been saying. For the sake of 
brevity we speak of them as the Gospel of this 
or that evangelist, but we speak more correctly 
when we use the full title—the Gospel according 
to this or that evangelist. The Gospel is one 
and the same, but is recorded and presented to 
us according to the conception of this or that 
writer. 

The origin and date of these titles cannot be 
given definitely and certainly. In their present 
form they may not be older than the fourth 
century, but as early as the second century the 
Gospels were known and believed to be written 
by those who are named in the present titles. 

Like other books of the Bible, whether in the 
New or in the Old Testament, the Gospels are 
anonymous. In this they differ from _ the 
Epistles, which were authenticated by those who 
wrote them. Anonymous letters carry little 
weight and are cowardly, implying that the 
writers lack the courage to own and to stand 
by what they have written. Wholly different 
from such unworthy motives were those 
which prompted the evangelists to omit their 

11I Cor, 4:6. 


THE GOSPEL WRITTEN 11 


own names. There was no need to mention their 
own names, for they would be well known to 
those whom they were trying to reach, who 
would be the first readers. The writers felt that 
their own personality was unimportant, they 
were merely agents through whom the Holy 
Spirit was speaking. They were not expressing 
their own individual opinions or convictions, but 
were recording the belief which was held in 
common by the whole body of believers. They 
were following the example of their Master who 
spoke not of Himself but of the Father who 
sent Him. They remained in the background 
that attention might be centred on Him of 
whom they wrote. They avoided placing their 
own names by the side of His whose ‘name is 
above every name.” A _ like spirit prompted 
John the Baptist when officers were sent by the 
Sanhedrim to ask him who art thou, and insisted 
on having some answer to carry back to those 
by whom they were sent. They gained no more 
than the self-effacing reply: ‘I am a voice.” ? 

The first three are called the Synoptic Gospels 
because taken together they present a com- 
posite narrative. John’s Gospel differs from 
them in its method and treatment, and as we 
shall find in a later chapter, is more a treatise 
than a narrative. What is known as the 


1 John 1: 28. 


12 STUDIES IN THE GOSPELS 


“Synoptic Problem” is the inquiry: what were 
the sources of information used in writing these 
three Gospels, and how were they related to one 
another: did one writer know and use what 
another had written, or were they wholly inde- 
pendent of one another? + 

The Bible is an inspired book and to those 
who rightly and devoutly use it, is a source of 
inspiration. Unmistakably it claims to be both 
a work of the Spirit, and a means by which the 
Spirit works. It does not necessarily follow 
that all parts of it are equally inspired. This 
inference has been made and tenaciously main- 
tained, and to prove it Paul’s words are quoted : 
“all Seripture is given by inspiration of God.” ? 
But another interpretation of these words with a 
different meaning is given in the revised version. 
The method of inspiration and the measure or 
degree of it are not the same in all the writers, 
nor in all the writings of the Bible. God 
spake in the prophets “by divers portions 
and in divers manners.”* In this matter 
true and sincere Christians may, and do, 
differ. It is not necessary to suppose that the 
exact words were either dictated or decided by 
God. It is sufficient to know and believe that 

1 See Diagram p. 96. 


2II Tim. 3: 16. 
8 Hebr. 1:1. 


THE GOSPEL WRITTEN 13 


“holy men of old spake as they were moved by 
the Holy Ghost.” 1 The early creeds of the 
Christian Church did not announce a narrow 
definition or doctrine of inspiration, but were 
content to assert that the Spirit “‘spake by the 
prophets.” What is popularly known as plenary 
or verbal inspiration ignores, or at least fails 
to explain satisfactorily, inconsistencies and 
self-contradictions, and even immoral ideas of 
God, which are found in the men and in the 
writings of the Old Testament. 

Reacting and recoiling from such extreme 
opinions, some hesitate or refuse to call the 
Bible “the word of God.” This is unnecessary 
and undiscriminating, and disregards the mean- 
ing of the terms used, for the term “word” is 
that whereby one mind expresses itself to an- 
other, and communicates with it. It is a vehicle 
to convey thought. This is precisely what the 
Bible is, an expression or communication to man 
of what is in the mind of God. We should 
discriminate between the truth and the vehicle 
by which it is conveyed; as Paul wrote, “we 
have this treasure in earthen vessels.” ? The 
casket which contains and conveys the treasure 
is of human construction, nothing human is 
perfect and infallible, but the treasure con- 


2.19,> Pee! 1 + 21) 
21II Cor. 4: 7. 


14 STUDIES IN THE GOSPELS 


tained, the truth conveyed, is of God, and like 
Him is unchangeable and infallible; of this we 
may say, as the Bible itself says, “the word of 
our God shall stand forever.” * 

The Bible is a history of the gradual growth 
of religion in the world. It records progressive 
revelations of the unity and righteousness of 
God, resulting in development of righteousness 
in men. The Hebrew race was chosen to receive 
these revelations and to carry forward this de- 
velopment. Throughout their history as re- 
corded in the Old Testament, they were the only 
people in the world who showed continuous 
desire and endeavor to be righteous. They 
made mistakes and failures, and for these they 
were punished, and from these they turned back 
to God and to His righteousness. At their 
worst they were morally superior to other na- 
tions, in a world ignorant of true righteousness 
and indifferent to it, the land of the Hebrews 
was the one spot where it could be found, where 
alone were conditions in which the Son of God 
could be born, and could gain a hearing and 
following. Although when He came to His own 
they received Him not, yet among them was a 
remnant, “a little flock” to whom He could 
promise and entrust His kingdom. The Old 
Testament shows the process, the New Testa- 

1J[saiah 40:6. 


THE GOSPEL WRITTEN 15 


ment shows the product, the ripe rich fruit 
which was growing and maturing through pre- 
ceding centuries. Those centuries must be 
known and judged by their fruits. [Every stage 
in the process and preparation was temporary, 
incomplete, and morally imperfect, but it was 
working out that which from the beginning was 
the Creator’s purpose and promise, and in the 
fulness of time “the woman’s Seed bruised the 
serpent’s head.” ? 

Of those ancient Scriptures Jesus said “they 
testify of me.” He did not teach that they were 
a moral standard for all time and inerrant, but 
on the contrary He showed that in many ways 
they were defective, on a low level because of 
the hardness of men’s hearts. They gave as 
much as men at that time could receive, as much 
as they could understand and attempt to fol- 
low. Much which for them was virtuous, would 
in us be criminal, for “the darkness is past and 
the true light now shineth.” Sayings which 
were spoken by them of old time, even by in- 
spired lawgivers and prophets, were disapproved 
as obsolete, and were surpassed by teachings 
which Jesus gave with supreme authority, with 
the high sanction “but I say unto you.” ” 

In studying either any book or any single 


1Gen. 8:15. 
2 Matt. 5:39. 


16 STUDIES IN THE GOSPELS 


text of the Bible we shall be helped by asking 
the following questions, even if some of them 
cannot always be positively answered; to aid 
the memory these five questions are made to 
begin with the same initial letter: 

1. Who wrote this? 

2. When was it written? 

3. Where was it written? 

4, What readers were specially in the writer’s 
mind? 

5. Why was it written? or what was its chief 
purpose? 

In the following chapters these questions will 
be applied to the Gospels. We will inquire 
what can be known of each Gospel, and of the 
writer to whom it has been ascribed, by con- 
sulting sources other than his own writing; and. 
then we will consider whether the knowledge 
thus gained from outside sources agrees with 
what the evangelist has written. 

Although this is not a devotional manual, yet 
in these studies we are following the footsteps 
of our Saviour, and in the paths where He 
walked we can meet and know Him, can feel and 
enjoy His presence and companionship, can hear 
Him calling us “not servants but friends,’ we 
can strengthen our conviction, and can share 
the experience of those who joyfully exclaimed 


THE GOSPEL WRITTEN 17 


“we have heard Him ourselves and know that 
this is indeed the Christ the Saviour of the 
world.” 1 


‘‘Him evermore I behold 
Walking in Galilee, 
Through the cornfield’s waving gold, 
In hamlet or grassy wold, 
By the shores of the Beautiful Sea. 
He toucheth the sightless eyes; 
Before Him the demons fiee; 
To the dead He sayeth: Arise; 
To the living: Follow Me, 
And that voice still soundeth on 
From the centuries that are gone, 
To the centuries that shall be.’’ 
H. W. LoncreLiow. 


1 John 4: 42. 


Tit 
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. MARK 


The Gospel according to St. Mark is placed 
before the Gospel according to St. Matthew in 
these studies because this is the correct chrono- 
logical order. The writings of the New Testa- 
ment are not so arranged as to follow one 
another in the order of the time in which they 
were written, if they had been so arranged the 
Epistles would be placed before the Gospels. In 
grouping these twenty-seven books other consid- 
erations prevailed over the purpose of indicating 
the time when they severally were written. 
Matthew’s Gospel was written later than Mark’s 
but because it was the Gospel for the Hebrews, 
and therefore made much use of the Old Testa- 
ment writings, it stands at the beginning of the 
New Testament as a connecting link between 
the two. Like the Epistle to the Hebrews it 
shows that the rudimentary and temporary 
religion of the Hebrews gave place to Christian- 
ity, by which it was not destroyed but fulfilled.* 
With good reason and wisely the advice has 


1 Matt. 5:17. 
18 


GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. MARK 19 


been given that in either first reading, or in 
studying the Gospels, one should follow the order 
in which they were originally written, and were 
first given to the Church, reading first Mark’s 
concise and graphic narrative, becoming familiar 
with the facts therein recorded, then proceeding 
to learn from other and later Gospels how these 
facts were used, and were combined with the 
Sayings and teachings of Jesus. 

We now proceed, to gather from early writers 
the information which they have given concern- 
ing Mark and concerning the Gospel which is 
ascribed to him; then we will examine the Gos- 
pel itself, to learn whether its contents confirm 
or contradict the testimony which those writers 
have given. Agreement of the two will be 
strong evidence of the truth of each. 

Of this information the earliest and most re- 
liable is found in writings of the New Testa- 
ment other than the Gospel itself. The Book 
of the Acts of the Apostles writen by Luke, 
somewhat later than this Gospel, narrates 
that Mark was also called John, and was a 
young man living in Jerusalem with his mother 
Mary, a sister of the Apostle Barnabas. As 
Mark’s father is nowhere named it is probable 
that he was not living at the time when Mark 
was first mentioned. Their house was a resort 
and hospitable refuge for the persecuted Chris- 


20 STUDIES IN THE GOSPELS 


tians of Jerusalem, accordingly when Peter was 
miraculously released from prison he went im- 
mediately to their house, where he was so well 
known that the maid servant Rhoda (Rose) 
before opening the door recognized his voice, 
and announced to those who were within that 
Peter stood without at the door asking for ad- 
mission. On entering he found there a group 
of fellow-Christians who were praying for his 
safety, and release from prison. A few years 
later Barnabas and Paul came from Antioch 
bringing to Jerusalem contributions of money 
and supplies of food to relieve the famine which 
that region suffered during two years.’ It ap- 
pears from the record in the book of the Acts 
that Mark aided them in this charitable work, 
and when Barnabas and Paul returned to 
Antioch he went with them ? and assisted in their 
evangelistic work in that city and its vicinity. 
He sailed with them on their first missionary 
journey, but when they reached the coast of 
Pamphylia and were about to cross the Taurus 
range of mountains, he left them and returned 
to his home in Jerusalem.* What influence led 

1 Acts 2:30. Eusebius Eee. Hist. Book 2, Chap. 12, and 
Josephus Antiq. Book 20, Chap. 1, give interesting accounts 
of this famine, and of the relief given by Helena Queen of 
Abilene, a Hebrew proselyte. 


2 Acts 12: 25. 
8 Acts 13: 18. 


GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. MARK 21 


him to do this we are not told. It is probable 
that never before had the young man been so 
far and so long away from home, and that he 
recoiled from crossing the mountains to go 
further into a new and unknown country. 

But indications given in the narrative imply 
that religious scruples made him unwilling to 
work longer and more definitely among the 
Gentiles. It is significant that he went back 
not to Antioch, the Gentile city from which the 
mission started, but to Jerusalem. Also it is 
significant that at this time he was called by 
his Hebrew name, John, not by his Latin name, 
Mark, by which he was always known at a later 
time when his work was among the Gentiles. 

Whether Gentiles could become members of 
the Christian Church, and whether in order to 
become such they should first be made members 
of the Hebrew Church by circumcision, and so 
be admitted not as Gentiles but as Hebrews, 
were questions at that time earnestly disputed, 
and were not decided till after the conference 
on this subject was held at Jerusalem. 

Notwithstanding the numerous and plain 
teachings in the Old Testament, and the inter- 
pretation and enforcement of these by Jesus, 
the Christian Church had not yet apprehended 
and accepted the truth that “Gentiles should 

1 Acts 15. 


22 STUDIES IN THE GOSPELS 


be fellow-heirs and of the same body, and par- 
takers of the promise in Christ by the Gospel.” * 
Even some of the Apostles were slow to learn 
this truth, the Apostle Peter needed to receive 
a revelation from heaven to convince him that it 
was lawful for him as “a Jew to keep company, 
or to come unto one of another Nation.” ” 

Paul, called to be an Apostle to the Gentiles, 
had advanced beyond these scruples and preju- 
dices, and was greatly disappointed and dis- 
pleased by Mark’s desertion and departure. 
He had not forgiven nor forgotten it when later 
he and Barnabas were planning a second journey 
in order to revisit and strengthen the missions 
which they had planted. Paul refused to take 
Mark with them, but Barnabas, more tolerant 
of his young nephew’s error, insisted upon tak- 
ing him. This dispute between them was over- 
ruled by the Providence which “makes all things 
work together for good to them that love God,” 
and resulted in doubling the missionary agency 
and work. Paul chose Silvanus and went into 
Asia; Barnabas, taking Mark, sailed again to 
Cyprus, his native island. 


‘*So on their tasks of love and praise, 
The saints of God their several ways 
Right onward speed, but join at last.’’ 


1 Hphe. 3: 6. 
2 Acts 10: 28. 


GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. MARK 23 


Paul, being too large-minded and too generous 
to harbor displeasure and resentment, became 
reconciled to Mark, and learned to appreciate 
and affectionately esteem him, and during his 
final imprisonment at Rome, asked that Mark 
might come to him to be his companion, com- 
forter, and coworker.* 

The Mark named by Peter in his epistle, “hal 
called his son,? may have been the evangelist 
whom we know by that name, and Peter may 
have called him his son to express his affection 
for his fellow-worker and interpreter. But it 
is more probable that the Mark there named 
was literally Peter’s own son, and that his 
mother, Peter’s wife, was the one meant by the 
words “she who is at Babylon elected together 
with you.” Our authorized English Bible 
(1611) interpreted this to mean not a woman, 
but a Christian Church, this mistake is corrected 
in the Revised Version. In these words Peter 
appears to have been writing of his own wife, 
showing that both she and their son Mark were 
with him in the city of Rome which he called 
Babylon. In early Christian writings the name 
Babylon was often substituted for Rome, for in 
former times Babylon had been the enemy and 
oppressor of God’s chosen people, and now 


PTeTim:, 4:01 
2I Peter 5:18. 


24 STUDIES IN THE GOSPELS 


Rome was such to the followers of Jesus. To 
avoid the common name of their enemy, substi- 
tuting for it a cryptogram well understood only 
among themselves, was a safeguard and self- 
protection. Their writings were widely circu- 
lated, and were read in the churches, sent some- 
times by private messengers, but also, when nec- 
essary, sent in the government mails, at any 
time they might fall into the hands of their 
enemies, and might be used as written evidence 
against them. The closing. book of the New 
Testament shows with what caution, and con- 
cealment of their meaning Christians made men- 
tion of Rome and of its emperor.t Thus under- 
stood Peter’s words in his epistle show that his 
wife and his son Mark were with him in Rome. 
If the conclusions which we have here reached 
are correct, we may also infer that Peter gave to 
his son the name Mark as a token of his esteem 
and affection for his fellow-worker and inter- 
preter. 

This knowledge concerning Mark which we 
have gathered from his contemporaries and com- 
panions is confirmed by writers who lived soon 
after him, and who are called “Apostolic 
Fathers.” One of these named Papias is quoted 
by Eusebius in his Ecclesiastical History? as 


1Rev. 18:18 and 14:8. 
2 Book 3, Chap. 39. 


GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. MARK 25 


having written: “Mark being the interpreter 
of Peter, whatsoever he recorded, wrote with 
great accuracy, but not however in the order 
in which it was done or spoken by our Lord, for 
he neither heard nor followed our Lord, but as 
before said, he was in company with Peter who 
gave him such instruction as was necessary, but 
not to give a history of our Lord’s discourses. 
Therefore Mark has not erred in anything, by 
writing some things as he has recorded them; 
for he was carefully attentive to one thing,— 
not to pass by anything that he heard, or to 
state anything falsely in these accounts.” 

In calling Mark “the interpreter of Peter,” 
Papias may have meant that as a catechist he 
explained Peter’s addresses to those who heard 
them; or his words may be taken more literally 
to mean that Mark, who had Gentile con- 
nections through his uncle Barnabas and 
others, translated into Greek Peter’s (Aramaic) 
language. We know that Peter’s speech and 
pronunciation were distinctly Galilean.’ The 
words of Papias: “not in the order in which 
it was spoken or done” appear to mean that 
Mark did not attempt to report in full our 
Lord’s discourses, nor to give a continuous and 
complete narrative of his life. 

Ireneus wrote: “Mark the disciple and 

1 Matt. 26: 73. 


26 STUDIES IN THE GOSPELS 


interpreter of Peter, delivered to us in writing 
the things that had been preached by Peter.” * 

To these testimonies may be added that of 
Clement of Alexandria:* “Peter having pub- 
licly preached the word at Rome, and having 
spoken the Gospel by the Spirit, many present 
exhorted Mark to write the things which had 
been spoken, since he had long accompanied 
Peter, and remembered what he had said, and 
when he had composed the Gospel he delivered 
it to them who had asked it of him.” Tertullian 
wrote: “The Gospel published by Mark may 
be called Peter’s whose interpreter Mark was.” * 

These and like testimonies given by early 
writers lead to the conclusion that Mark wrote 
this Gospel at Rome about the year 65 A.D., 
the year in which began the Roman war against 
the Jews, ending in the destruction of their 
city and temple in the year 70 A.D. Mark’s 
later history and movements are not known. 
An uncertain tradition relates that he preached 
in Alexandria and became Bishop of the church 
in that city and died a martyr. 

We now look into Mark’s Gospel to examine 
whether its contents are characteristic of the 
writer, and are what our knowledge of him, 

1 Adv. Her. Book 38, Chap. 1. 


2EKuseb. Ecc. Hist. Book 6. 
38 Adv. Marcion Book 4, Chap. 5. 


GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. MARK 27 


gained from other sources, would lead us to 
expect. 

The testimony of early writers, that Mark, in 
his Gospel, gives information and impressions 
received from Peter, is confirmed by many indi- 
cations of this influence which are found in this 
Gospel. These, if taken singly may seem to be 
insignificant and unconvincing, but taken to- 
gether they form cumulative proof of consider- 
able weight. 

Mark’s narrative shows special interest in re- 
lating what occurred in Galilee, where Peter had 
his home and employment, and where he was 
most frequently in the presence of Jesus. Al- 
most at its beginning this Gospel tells that Jesus 
was a guest in Peter’s house, and healed his 
wife’s mother.’ These seem to be Peter’s rem- 
iniscences of his early discipleship, often recalled 
and repeated by him because deeply impressed 
upon his mind, and affectionately treasured in 
his heart. They may be compared with the 
reminiscences of St. John * which recall minute 
particulars, naming days and hours of the time 
when he first met and began to know his be- 
loved Master. 

The humility which under the teachings of 
Jesus, and of the Holy Spirit, Peter slowly but 


1 Mark 1:21, 27. 
2John 2 and 38. 


28 STUDIES IN THE GOSPELS 


finally acquired, and which he expressed in his 
Epistles, would naturally find utterance in his 
preaching, and would appear in the Gospel of 
Mark nis disciple and “interpreter.” This hu- 
mility appears in the omission, or brief mention 
in that Gospel, of what might make prominent 
and prove Peter’s love and loyalty to Jesus, but 
on the contrary what might be to his discredit, 
and a matter of self-reproach, is recorded un- 
sparingly in full detail. The point here empha- 
sized cannot be presented briefly, but it will 
appear by a careful comparison of Mark with 
the other evangelists. In making this compari- 
son allowance must be made for the probability 
that Mark’s Gospel was known and used by the 
other evangelists. A single and striking in- 
stance and illustration of what has just been 
said of the appearance of Peter’s humility in 
Mark’s Gospel, is found in the narrative of 
Peter’s denial. Mark’s Gospel alone mentions 
the second cock crowing, both in the warning 
given by Jesus, and in the event which fol- 
lowed.t This implies that Peter, in his preach- 
ing, was accustomed to reproach himself, as if 
saying: “I should have heeded the warning 
which was given to me not only in my Master’s 
words, but also in the first crowing of the cock. 
By this I should have been withheld from repeat- 
1 Mark 14:30, 72. 


GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. MARK 29 


ing my denial, but I persisted until a second time 
the cock crew, which, with my Master’s re- 
proachful look turned towards me, made me to 
realize that I had thrice denied Him.” 

Again we seem to hear Peter’s voice in Mark’s 
narration of the Transfiguration which alone 
adds, what probably was Peter’s own confession, 
that in his unreasoning and impulsive proposal 
to build there on the mountain three tabernacles, 
“he knew not what he was saying.” ! 

Early writers have told us that this Gospel 
was written at Rome, and they imply that in 
writing it the author had in mind Gentile 
readers, and especially those of Rome. Accord- 
ingly this has been called the Roman Gospel, as 
Matthew is called the Gospel for the Hebrews, 
and Luke the Gospel for the Greeks. The three 
languages in which Pilate wrote the inscription 
on the cross represent these three nationalities. 
Therefore as might be expected, Latin idioms 
and expressions appear in this writer’s Greek. 
For the information of Gentile readers Hebrew 
words are translated, and Hebrew customs are 
explained. A characteristic word occurs very 
often in this Gospel, and probably from Mark 
has passed into occasional use in the other Gos- 
pels, namely the word “straightway.” It ex- 
presses promptness, energy and action, which 

1 Mark 9; 6, 


30 STUDIES IN THE GOSPELS 


were racial traits of the Roman; and Roman 
readers would recognize this word as correspond- 
ing to its Latin equivalent “celeriter,’ which is 
used with like frequency in Cesar’s Com- 
mentaries. In this Gospel may be found other 
indications of its adaptation and appeal to the 
Roman people. It has been aptly termed the 
“Gospel of Power,” and the “Gospel of the Son 
of God.” This latter title it seems to claim for 
itself by beginning with these words. This 
characteristic of Mark’s Gospel has been recog- 
nized and represented by making its symbol the 
Lion, the king of beasts. Exercise and exhibi- 
tion of power would specially attract and appeal 
to the Roman people, who at that time were 
the conquerers and rulers of the world. Their 
soldiers paid idolatrous worship to their mili- 
tary standards, and the statue of their emperor 
was placed among the gods in the Roman 
Pantheon. Roman readers would be impressed 
by the superhuman power claimed by Jesus and 
expressed in His miracles; accordingly His 
miracles were made prominent in this Gospel 
which records eighteen of the twenty-eight. 
But of the thirty-five parables only four are 
given in this Gospel, for the use of parables 
was a method of teaching which was neither 
followed nor esteemed by the Romans. For 
a like reason the genealogy of Jesus, which 


2 


GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. MARK 381 


the Hebrew Christians would highly value, and 
take as convincing evidence of His mission, 
would be disregarded and even despised by 
Romans, therefore it does not appear in this 
Gospel. Selecting material and incidents which 
would impress the readers whom he had spe- 
cially in mind, Mark was careful to find place 
in his brief narrative for the exclamation made 
by the Roman centurion who had charge of 
the crucifixion—‘Truly this man was a son 
of God.” The whole narrative seems to move 
toward, and lead up to this conviction, which 
R. Watson Gilder has embodied in his lines 
representing the utterance of a heathen in the 
year of the Crucifixion. 


‘Tf Jesus Christ is a man 

And only a man, I say 

That of all mankind I cleave to him, 

And to him I will cleave alway. 

If Jesus Christ is God, 

And the Only God, I swear 

I will follow him through heaven and hell, 
The earth, the sea, and the air.’’ 


As an outline of Mark’s narrative the following 
may be helpful: 

1. Advent of the Almighty King. 1-2:12. 

2. Conflict of the Almighty King. 2:13- 
8; 26, 


32 STUDIES IN THE GOSPELS 


3. Claims of the Almighty King. 8: 27-- 
13: 37. 

4, Self-sacrifice of the Almighty King. 14: 1- 
15: 47. 

5. Triumph of the Almighty King. 16:1 to 
end. 

The end of Mark’s Gospel (from 16:8) either 
was never written by him, or having been writ- 
ten, has been lost. Some early manuscripts 
abruptly end at this verse, others add words 
which manifestly were not written by him who 
wrote the Gospel, this is true of the ending with 
which our English Bible has made us familiar. 
It is found in the writings of Irenzeus and of 
Hippolytus, from what source they obtained it 
is not known: an ancient manuscript which 
contains it has inserted on the margin: “Irom 
the presbyter Ariston.” That Christian disciple, 
who is mentioned with esteem by Papias, may 
have composed and contributed it. Another 
manuscript gives the following: “and all things 
which had been communicated to them they 
immediately declared to those who were with 
Peter. And after these things Jesus Him- 
self sent forth by them the holy and inde- 
structible preaching of everlasting salvation, 
from the east even to the west.” Historical 
Criticism, unfortunately called Higher Criticism, 
has not yet succeeded in accounting satisfac- 


GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. MARK 33 


torily for the abrupt ending of this Gospel, but 
has left explanation of it to conjecture. Mark, 
writing at Rome, may have been interrupted at 
this point in his narrative by the violent perse- 
cution of Christians at Rome in the time of 
Nero, which resulted in the martyrdom of Paul 
and Peter. Mark’s own martyrdom may have 
occurred at the same time, or soon after, and 
before he could complete his narrative. 

Before leaving this Gospel to study another, 
let us recall its recorded incident which seems 
to indicate what sort of man Mark was. As he 
alone tells the story,’ and as it agrees with our 
knowledge of him gathered from accessible 
sources, it is believed to have been his own 
personal experience. It occurred on the evening 
of our Lord’s arrest in the garden of Gethsemane. 
On the morning of that day our Lord chose two 
of His disciples and indicated to them the house 
in which they would eat the Passover Supper. 
In the evening at the table He told them that 
He had eagerly desired to have this supper with 
them before His death. It gave Him oppor- 
tunity for more intimate and loving intercourse 
than He had before held with them, and also for 
appointing what came to be known as “The 
Lord’s Supper,” and which, until His final com- 
ing, was to be observed by all Christian believers 

1 Mark 14: 51, 


o4 STUDIES IN THE GOSPELS 


as His memorial. In this desire He might have 
been disappointed and defeated if He had made 
known to them beforehand the house in which 
the supper would be held, for Judas would 
know where to find Him in the evening, in order 
to carry into effect his treacherous agreement 
with the priests. Therefore Jesus made known 
the house to only two of His disciples, and even 
those two would know it only after they had 
entered the city. Judas and the others could 
not know the house until they were led to it 
by Jesus in the evening. The sign given these 
two was, that on entering the city, they would 
meet a man bearing a pitcher of water. The 
man thus designated would lead them to the 
house where the supper was to be made ready. 
Tradition tells us that the house was that of 
Mary the mother of Mark, and all the circum- 
stances point to Mark as the man who met them. 
In his house, in a large upper room, Jesus and 
His disciples assembled in the evening. At the 
beginning of the feast Judas, finding that his 
betrayal was discovered, left the room and 
hastened through the dark night to lead the 
priests and soldiers to the house, but when they 
reached the house, Jesus and His Apostles had 
left, and were on their way to Gethsemane. 
Thither therefore Judas led the priests and the 
throng which had gathered. Meanwhile Mark 


GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. MARK 35 


had undressed and gone to bed, but awakened 
by the arrival and noise of the throng of enemies, 
he hastily wrapped around his body the linen 
sheet by which he had been covered, and by 
another path than that which Judas had taken, 
hurried to warn Jesus of His danger. He was 
too late, and found that Jesus was already in 
the hands of His enemies, who laid hold of Mark 
to secure him also, but he, slipping out of the 
linen sheet, and leaving it in their hands, escaped. 
Mark tells this story so naturally and particu- 
larly that, in reading it, we feel instinctively 
that he is telling what happened to himself. It 
agrees with all that we know of him, showing 
impulsiveness, loyalty, promptness, energy, and 
activity. 


BY. 
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. MATTHEW 


Matthew was also called Levi, and was the 
son of Alpheus. Before he became one of the 
twelve apostles he had been a publican, a col- 
lector of taxes at Capernaum, where the fishing 
trade and the passing caravans made the col- 
lection of tolls an important and profitable 
business. The right of a foreign government to 
impose taxes upon God’s chosen people who 
were citizens of His kingdom, and their obliga- 
tion to pay such taxes, were questions bitterly 
discussed by the representatives and _ local 
rulers of the Jews. By the contending parties 
this matter was referred to Jesus for His de- 
cision. We can imagine the intense interest 
with which Matthew heard the question and 
awaited the answer. Those who engaged to act 
as agents of Rome in collecting the taxes were 
ostracised as disloyal and dishonest. The work 
of collecting the taxes was farmed out, that is, 
sold by the Roman government, and usually 
resold to local agents. This method offered 


1 Matt, 22:17. 
36 


ST. MATTHEW oT 


opportunity and temptation to extort from the 
people all that they could be forced to pay, what 
the publican could add to the legal tax would 
find its way into his own purse. Being dis- 
credited and despised, the business was under- 
taken usually by those who had no good name 
to lose, and no moral standard to maintain. 
Jesus saw that Matthew was capable of higher 
and better things than making money in dis- 
honored ways. Matthew justified this estimate 
of him by promptly abandoning his trade, and 
obeying the call to become a follower and dis- 
ciple of Jesus. Before leaving his former com- 
panions and business associates, he gave to them 
a farewell feast in his own house at which Jesus 
was an honored guest. In observing this cus- 
tom of his countrymen, Matthew may have been 
prompted by desire to make Jesus known to the 
publicans. Watchful enemies criticised Jesus, 
and threw seeds of suspicion and strife into the 
minds of His newly made disciples, by mali- 
ciously asking those simple-minded honest fish- 
ermen “why does your Master associate and eat 
with Publicans and sinners?” These few facts 
are all that is certainly known of Matthew. 
Traditions attempting to tell his later history 
are conflicting and unreliable. 

The time when, and the place where this Gos- 
pel was written are not known, conjectures and 


38 STUDIES IN THE GOSPELS 


conflicting opinions lead to no satisfactory con- 
clusion, and may be disregarded in this manual. | 
This Gospel was known and received as 
Matthew’s Gospel early in the second century. 
It was one of the four Gospels used by Tatian in 
his Diatessaron.t It is included in the canon, 
or list of New Testament books given in the 
Muratorian Fragment.” It is contained in the 
Peshito * which was the Syrian version made in 
the second century. It was mentioned and. 
quoted by Papias, Irenzeus, Clement, and other 
writers of that century. The form in which it 
first appeared was a collection made by Mat- 
thew of the Sayings or Teachings (Logia) of 
Jesus, written in Aramaic, the language in which 
Jesus spoke and taught, and which was called 
Hebrew because it was at that time the vernac- 
ular of the Hebrews who lived in Palestine. 
The Gospel which we now have and know as 
Matthew’s Gospel contains these Sayings, and 
combines with them a narrative giving memoirs 
of the life of Jesus. These conclusions are con- 
firmed by the testimony of early writers, such as 
this fragment of the writings of Papias quoted 
and preserved by the ecclesiastical historian 
Eusebius.* Papias wrote: “Matthew then com- 


1 Page 89. 
2Page 91. 
3 Page 98. 
4Hec. His. Book 3, Chap. 38. 


ST. MATTHEW 39 


posed the Logia in the Hebrew tongue, and every 
one translated it as he was able.” The transla- 
tion of Matthew’s Logia here mentioned by 
Papias was necessary in order to put into the 
Greek of the four Gospels, these sayings of Jesus 
which were spoken by Him in Aramaic and first 
written by Matthew in that language. 

This testimony from Papias is confirmed by 
Irenzeus ? who wrote: ‘Matthew among the He- 
brews published the Gospel in their own tongue.” 
In these words Irenzeus appears to have referred 
to Matthew’s Logia, which being the teaching of 
Jesus, could be called properly ‘The Gospel.” 
But some have taken his words to mean that 
Matthew’s Gospel was written first in Hebrew, 
and. afterwards translated into Greek. If such 
a Gospel, written by Matthew in Hebrew, ever 
existed, it has disappeared. At a much later 
date, however, appeared an apocryphal and 
anonymous book claiming to be a Hebrew Gospel 
by Matthew. This later and spurious book ap- 
pears to have been prompted and put forth to 
support and satisfy those who supposed that 
Matthew’s Gospel was first written in Hebrew, 
and who so interpreted the words of Irenzeus. 
Failure to clearly discriminate between these 
three books has led to confusion and conflicting 


1¥For sayings of Jesus recently found, see p. 96. 
2 Adv. Her. Book 3, Chap. 1. 


40) STUDIES IN THE GOSPELS 


opinions. This disputed subject need not re- 
ceive further consideration in this manual. For 
our present purpose it is enough that, as already 
indicated, early writers clearly mention, and 
strongly attest, these two books, namely “The 
Sayings of Jesus” written in Aramaic by Mat- 
thew, and second, our Gospel according to St. 
Matthew written in Greek, containing these 
“Sayings,” and combining with them narrative 
portions. 

Now, following the method which we have 
adopted, we open this Gospel to examine its con- 
tents, and to learn whether it agrees with what 
early writers have written concerning it. 

We find that it contains and makes conspicu- 
ous sayings and teachings of Jesus arranged in 
five discourses, each of which has a marked be- 
ginning and end, which will not escape the no- 
tice of an attentive and thoughtful reader. 
These five discourses are: 

1. The Sermon on the Mount. Chapters 5-7. 

2. Instruction given to the twelve Apostles 
for their mission. 10:1-11:1. 

3. The seven parables of the Kingdom. 13: 
1-53. 

4, Treatment of errors and erring members. 
18: 1-19: 1. 

5. Judgments to come on (a) the rulers, 
(b) the city, (c) the world. 24:1-26:1. 


ST. MATTHEW Al 


These five discourses give Matthew’s “Say- 
ings” or “Logia” translated from Aramaic into 
Greek. The number five is significant and in- 
teresting, for according to Eusebius five books 
were written by Papias called “The Interpreta- 
tion of our Lord’s Discourses.” The number of 
our Lord’s discourses given in Matthew’s Gospel 
corresponds with the number of the books in 
which Papias interpreted the discourses. This 
fivefold division common to the two, points back 
and justifies the inference that the earlier col- 
lection of the Logia or Sayings of Jesus, written 
by Matthew in Aramaic, also was in five books. 
These facts consistent with each other, when 
taken together serve to show that Matthew’s 
Gospel was written specially for the Hebrews, 
which agrees with the statements made by 
Papias, Irenzeus, Clement, and other early 
writers. This part of our subject we may pur- 
sue a little further by calling attention to the 
fact that Hebrew writers were accustomed to 
form groups of five, and of its duplicate ten. 
This custom appears in the five books of 
Moses, and in the five books of the one hun- 
dred and fifty Psalms, and in the Ten Com- 
mandments given at Mount Sinai. This group- 
ing by five and ten, seems to have been adopted 
as an aid to memory, and for teaching children, 
and was a natural result of using the fingers of 


42 STUDIES IN THE GOSPELS 


the two hands in counting, which continues to 
be a familiar and common practice, and prob- 
ably was more general in that primitive and 
childlike age. Consistently with this they used 
parts of the body for measuring, such as the 
handbreadth, the cubit or length of the forearm, 
the foot, the pace or stride of the legs. These 
with like popular uses have left their marks on 
Hebrew literature. 

In Matthew’s Gospel we see that it was his 
habit to gather together, and to arrange in 
groups, the things which he was recording. 
This habit appears in his peculiar treatment of 
the genealogy | of Jesus, also in his gathering to- 
gether into one discourse ‘the seven parables of 
the kingdom,” which may not have been spoken 
all on one occasion; the like may be true of the 
Sermon on the Mount, into which, as some schol- 
ars maintain, Matthew may have collected teach- 
ings which were given by Jesus at different 
times. This method of arranging in groups 
may be compared and contrasted with the differ- 
ent method used by Luke in his Gospel, which 
usually gives the teachings of Jesus in connec- 
tion with the occasions and the circumstances 
which prompted them. This difference between 


1 Matt. 1:17. 
2Matt. 18: 1-53. 


ST. MATTHEW 43 


the two evangelists has been likened to that be- 
tween a florist and a gardener, the latter takes 
you into his garden and shows to you flowers 
where they grow and are seen in their native 
surroundings; the florist may show to you simi- 
lar flowers but they are held in his hand, or in 
his vases, collected and grouped as he has chosen 
to arrange them. 

We are told by Papias, Irenzeus, Clement, and 
others that Matthew’s Gospel was written for 
the Hebrews, this is confirmed by what we find 
in the Gospel. It opens by giving a genealogy, 
which Hebrews, and they only, would think to be 
of value and importance. This genealogy traces 
the descent of Jesus through reigning kings to 
David and to Abraham. This we would expect 
to find in the “Gospel of the Messiah” written for 
Hebrews, but in Luke “the Gospel of the Son of 
Man,” written for Greeks, the genealogy is 
traced back to “Adam the Son of God.” 

In this Gospel for the Hebrews we might ex- 
pect to find also numerous references to the Old 
Testament, citing predictions and promises of 
the Messiah, and showing that these were ful- 
filled and realized in Jesus of Nazareth. These 
abound in Matthew’s Gospel, making it to stand 
in striking contrast with Mark’s “Gospel for the 
Romans” in which, as we have seen, only one 


44 STUDIES IN THE GOSPELS 


such quotation was made by the writer himself.? 

Teaching by parables also was characteristic 
of the Hebrews, accordingly we find that of the 
thirty-five parables which are recorded as hav- 
ing been taught by Jesus, twenty-one are given 
by Matthew, and ten of these are given only by 
him. 

Seldom does Matthew mention his own name, 
when he cannot avoid it he does it with a brevity 
and humility which might be expected of an 
Apostle and follower of Him- who was meek and 
lowly in heart. For instance Matthew merely 
mentions a meal at which Jesus sat and ate with 
publicans and sinners, but Luke describes it as 
“a great feast” given by Matthew in his own 
house.? Notice also that, in contrast with the 
other evangelists, who name him only as Mat- 
thew, he calls himself Matthew the publican, 
adding that reproachful epithet as if desiring 
always to remind both himself, and others, of 
the divine grace and love which stooped to lift 
him from his low estate, and exalted him to be an 
Apostle. The same spirit appears in his taking 
a secondary place in the list of the twelve Apos- 


1The Prophecies are used by the evangelists to show 
that the Christian Religion was not an after-thought or 
change of purpose in the Divine Mind, but was purposed 
and promised from the beginning. In this they found what 
in a scientific age we find in the “laws of nature.” 
2Matt. 9:10. Luke 5: 29. 


ST. MATTHEW 45 


tles. These lists given in the Gospels appear to 
arrange the Apostles in pairs corresponding to 
the grouping of them when Jesus “sent them 
forth two by two.” In the other Gospels Mat- 
thew and Thomas are named together, but Mat- 
thew in his Gospel? changes the order, placing 
the name of Thomas before his own, as if careful 
to “esteem another better than himself.” 

Significantly and consistently this Gospel for 
the Hebrews closes with a command to carry its 
message to all nations, recalling and fulfilling 
the promise given to Abraham, the ancestor of 
the Hebrews, that through him and his seed all 
nations of the earth would be blessed.’ 


1 Matt. 10:3. 
2Gen. 18:18. 


Vv 
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. LUKE 


The author of our third Gospel, and of the 
Book of The Acts of the Apostles, is more in- 
timately and more reliably known than any 
other of the four evangelists. This knowledge 
is the more interesting because much of it is fur- 
nished by his own writings, and by Paul to whom 
he was a friend, companion, and fellow laborer, 
and who has placed on record that Luke was a 
Gentile and a physician. His name, and his 
skilful use of the Greek language, indicate that 
he was an educated Greek. Of his early life and 
experience we have no certain knowledge, he 
meets us first at Troas when Paul was about to 
carry Christianity from Asia into southern 
Europe. Paul had been in Galatia making his 
first visit to that Province while on his second 
missionary journey. While there he was seri- 
ously ill? and probably this illness was the oc- 
casion which brought Luke as a physician to be 
with him for medical treatment. This may be 


1Col. 4:14. 
2Gal. 4:13, 14. 
46 


ST. LUKE AT 


reasonably inferred from the fact that immedi- 
ately afterward they were together at Troas, 
which stood over the ruins of ancient Troy that 
were discovered and excavated in the last cen- 
tury by Dr. Schlieman. While there at Troas 
Paul and his companions were planning to carry 
Christianity into Mysia and other parts of Asia. 
But God had other plans for them, which He 
made known to Paul by giving to him at night 
a vision, in which appeared a man begging him 
to come over to Macedonia. 

A special Providence may be seen in giving 
to Paul at this time, when he was about to un- 
dertake work in Greek communities, a compan- 
ion and coworker who was a Greek with knowl- 
edge of the character, customs and language of 
the Greek people, and was also a physician able 
to care for Paul and to relieve his. bodily in- 
firmities. Paul’s affectionate gratitude, and ac- 
knowledgement of kindness received, find ex- 
pression in his words when he speaks of Luke as 
“the beloved physician.” From this time, when 
they were at Troas about to sail for Macedonia, 
Luke was always with Paul except during the 
interval,—about three years—when Luke re- 
mained at Philippi, in charge of the mission 
which they had recently planted there. This 
was during Paul’s second missionary journey, 
a few years later Paul returned to Philippi and 


48 STUDIES IN THE GOSPELS 


found Luke there, faithfully carrying on the 
work with which he had been entrusted. To- 
gether they left Philippi and went to Corinth, 
and were not separated again until Paul was be- 
headed at Rome by order of the infamous em- 
peror Nero. These incidents and experiences in 
Luke’s life, and his relations with Paul, may be 
traced in the book of The Acts by observing the 
writer’s use of the personal pronouns. When 
he was with Paul in what he narrates, he writes 
in the first person using the pronouns we and us, 
but at other times he changes to the third person 
writing he and they; these “we chapters” of the 
book as they have been called, are interesting 
and helpful indications of personal experience 
and history. 

The time when, and the place where this gos- 
pel was written cannot be positively stated. It 
must have been written before the book of the 
Acts, for in that book it is mentioned as a 
“former treatise.” In comparing it with the two 
other Synoptic Gospels we find indications that 
it was written after they were, also that it was 
written after the destruction of Jerusalem 
(A.D. 70). It may be dated approximately soon 
after that event. It has been thought, and it is 
probable, that Luke intended to write a third 
book giving an account of the life and work of 


ST. LUKE 49 


Barnabas and of other Apostles. Attempts to 
supply such additions to his narrative appear 
in later and spurious writings which are parts 
of “The Apocrypha of the New Testament.” 
The genuineness and authorship of this Gos- 
pel are proved by testimony given by writers of 
the second century. Irenzus wrote: “Luke the 
companion of Paul put into writing the Gospel 
preached by the latter.” The Muratorian Canon 
which appears to have been written at about the 
time of Irenzus, contains the following: “In 
the third place the book of the Gospel according 
to Luke, Luke the beloved physician, whom Paul 
has associated with himself, as one zealous for 
righteousness, to be his companion, wrote in his 
own name as he thought good. Now he had not 
himself seen the Lord in the flesh, but having 
carried his inquiries back as far as possible, he 
began his history with the birth of John.” This 
Gospel was woven into Tatian’s Diatessaron 
which now, since its recent discovery, we can 
read for ourselves. It is in the Peshito, the 
Syrian version of the New Testament, which in 
the middle of the second century was read in the 
churches of Syria. At Rome it was used by 
Marcion as the basis of his heretical gospel 
which he wrote to support his own heretical 
teaching. Other testimonies could be added, but 


50 STUDIES IN THE GOSPELS 


let us now turn to the Gospel itself and examine 
whether its contents correspond to, and con- 
firm what we have been told of it, and of its 
author. 

In his introduction to his Gospel Luke indi- 
cates what others have said, that “he had not 
himself seen the Lord in the flesh,” but by care- 
ful inquiries of those who had seen and known 
him, he gathered reliable information in order to 
write a connected narrative of facts which could 
be certainly believed. In making these inquiries 
of eyewitnesses, he surely would not disregard, 
but on the contrary would highly value, whatso- 
ever could be learned from the Virgin Mother of 
Jesus, either directly from her in person if she 
were still living at that time, or from those who 
had known and talked with her. Luke would 
have means and opportunity to do this in his 
visits to Jerusalem, where Mary lived with the 
Apostle John who had taken her to his own home. 
Similar opportunity Luke would have also dur- 
ing his frequent and long visits to Caesarea, not 
far from Jerusalem, and where he was with Paul 
during his imprisonment there. As might be ex- 
pected therefore, in the early part of his Gospel 
Luke has recorded facts which only the mother 
of Jesus could know and make known. It is 
significant and suggestive that in this Gospel, 
and here only, are the words: “Mary kept all 


ST. LUKE | 51 


these things and pondered them in her heart.” ? 

In a narrative written by a physician we 
might expect to find some thoughts and expres- 
sions which indicate his profession, some out- 
cropping of his mental habits and bias; such are 
found in Luke’s Gospel; any one of these, if con- 
sidered by. itself, may appear insignificant, but 
taken together they furnish cumulative evidence 
of authorship. [or instance this Gospel alone 
quotes the proverb—Physician heal thyself” ; ? 
probably this was a familiar saying at that time 
among men of Luke’s profession. Another such 
incidental evidence is brought out by comparing 
Mark’s language with Luke’s in speaking of a 
woman who was healed by Jesus: Mark writes 
that after treatment “by many physicians she 
was no better but rather grew worse.” Luke 
might well hesitate to admit and record an opin- 
ion so unfavorable to the profession which he 
represented, accordingly he omits the most 
severe part of the criticism.® 

1 Luke having declared that his purpose in writing his 
Gospel was to make certain the knowledge which had been 
given by oral instruction, immediately proceeds to narrate in 
detail the Annunciation, and the birth of Jesus by a Virgin 
Mother, placing this in contrast with the natural birth of 
John. Is it not evident that “The Virgin Birth” was in- 
cluded in the things which had been taught, and “were 
surely believed,” and which Luke wrote to certify? 

2 Luke 4: 23. 

8 Luke 8; 48, 


D2 STUDIES IN THE GOSPELS 


Before and in another connection we have 
drawn attention to the special interest which the 
Gospel of Luke shows in the motherhood of Mary 
and of her cousin Elizabeth, and in the details 
of the birth of their children, naturally such in- 
terest would appear in a narrative written by a 
physician. 

The manner in which the miracles are used in 
Luke’s Gospel is consistent with its authorship. 
The Greeks, for whom this Gospel was specially 
written, were in their time, leaders of thought, 
and pioneers in the advance of physical science 
and of philosophy, they were men of intelli- 
gence and of inquiry, interested “to hear or to 
tell some new thing.” + To such men the exer- 
cise and exhibition of some strange power which 
produced results that could not be accounted for, 
nor be explained by any known forces or causes, 
this would come to them as a startling challenge, 
calling them to think and inquire. Therefore 
a writer who was a Greek physician, having in 
mind such readers, might be expected to give 
large space and much prominence in his narra- 
tive to the miracles wrought by Jesus. We 
find that this is done by Luke in his Gospel, 
where a larger number of miracles is recorded 
than in any other of the Gospels; of the thirty- 
five miracles which are on record as having been 

1 Acts 17:31. 


ST. LUKE De 
wrought by Jesus, twenty-one are in this Gospel, 
and sixteen of these are miracles of healing, and 
of these miracles five are found only in this Gos- 
pel written by “the beloved physician.” 

Luke’s close and long-continued association 
with Paul prompts us to look in his Gospel for re- 
sults of Paul’s influence, impressions received 
from his dominant mind. These are not lack- 
ing, nor are they difficult to find, they may be 
seen in Luke’s selection from his abundant and 
available material, of the incidents and teach- 
ings which he puts into his narrative, and in the 
prominence which he gives to certain aspects of 
the general subject; these are such as suggest 
and correspond with what Paul emphasized in 
his writings and preaching. Doubtless this is 
what Irenzeus meant in his words which we 
have already quoted: “Luke put into writing 
the Gospel preached by Paul.” In studying the 
Gospel of Mark, we found and mentioned a sim- 
ilar correspondence between that Gospel and the. 
preaching of Peter. Luke in his Gospel em- 
phasizes the place and proportion which prayer 
had in both the life and the teaching of Jesus, 
he shows the human need of it, and the support 
and comfort which it gives. Paul does the like 
in his Epistles. Both of them also emphasize 
and illustrate the need and the efficacy of faith 
in drawing near to -'esus, and in obtaining from 


54 STUDIES IN THE GOSPELS 


Him what He is eager to impart. Both give 
large place and much prominence in their writ- 
ings to the loving forgiveness of God; this is 
seen in Luke’s Gospel in the fact that he alone 
gives the parables of recovering the lost sheep, 
the finding of the lost coin, the welcome of the 
returning prodigal. Also this Gospel alone re- 
cords the pardoning of the penitent thief on the 
Cross. 

Another correspondence between this Gospel 
and the writings of Paul appears in the en- 
couragement which both give to avoid entan- 
gling relations with this life, and burdens which 
may impede progress in the Christian walk. 
Voluntary poverty and asceticism have quoted 
Luke and Paul in defence and support of their 
principles and practices, but in doing so they 
seem to disregard the reason why such encour- 
agement and advice are given, not because 
domestic relations and material possessions are 
wrong, but because the perils and persecutions 
to which Christians at that time were exposed 
made such relations and possessions undesir- 
able, and a cause for anxiety and distraction. 
At that time, and until the beginning of the 
fourth century, Christians, even if not perse- 
cuted, were not granted a right to live; the more 
loosely they were tied to the life which was in 
such daily peril, the less would be their cares, 


ST. LUKE 5D 


fears, and anxieties. Paul expressly stated 
that he was giving such advice to his converts in 
order to spare them and “because of the present 
distress.” + 

In thus calling attention to the reflection in 
Luke’s Gospel of Paul’s theology and thought, 
we must avoid the mistake of supposing that in 
his words: “according to my Gospel,” ? Paul was 
referring to the Gospel of Luke, for when Paul 
wrote these words the Gospel of Luke had not 
been written. In his words “my Gospel” Paul 
could not be referring to any written Gospel, but 
was referring to his own interpretation and way 
of presenting the one Gospel or “good tidings” 

of redemption. 
_ Luke’s Gospel is appropriately called “The 
Gospel of the Son of Man,” for it emphasizes the 
human and humane nature of our divine Lord. 
It is well for us to always remember that the first 
heresy in the Christian Church was not denial 
of the divinity of Jesus, but denial of His hu- 
manity. His divine origin, nature, and power 
were so manifest, and were so unmistakably as- 
serted and claimed by Him, that they were un- 
hesitatingly believed and acknowledged by His 
followers. But whether He was, and how at the 
same time He could be truly and really human, 


1 Cor; 7226: 
ahom, 2:17, 


56 STUDIES IN THE GOSPELS 


this was questioned, doubted, and denied, by 
some who claimed membership in the Christian 
Church, such as the Gnostics, and the Docete. 
This erroneous teaching that Jesus was not truly 
man but only seemed to be, and that His suffer- 
ing on the cross was not real but only an appear- 
ance, this was so contrary to what Jesus taught, 
and was so destructive to the foundations on 
which faith in Him is built, and must rest, it 
would make Him so remote from us, so impos- 
sible as an example to be followed, that it was 
promptly and positively denied, and those who 
held and taught it were discredited and dis- 
owned. The beginnings of this error may have 
appeared, or at least may have been apprehended, 
the seeds of this baneful growth may have been 
germinating under ground at the time when 
Luke wrote this “Gospel of the Son of Man.” 
Be that as it may, certainly it is interesting and 
suggestive that in this Gospel Jesus often 
speaks of Himself as “The Son of Man.” 

This Gospel written by Luke has been called 
also “The Woman’s Gospel.” We have before 
called attention to the prominent place in the 
foreground of this Gospel given to Mary and 
Elizabeth, to this we may add that Luke alone 
mentions the women of Galilee who followed 
Jesus and provided for His daily needs. Also 

1 Luke 8:1. 


ST. LUKE dT 


in this Gospel, and here only, is seen the great 
multitude of women who, as Jesus was led to 
Calvary, followed Him along the Via Dolorosa, 
weeping and bewailing, to whom Jesus turned 
and said: “Daughters of Jerusalem, weep not 
for Me, but weep for yourselves and for your 
children.” + In the teaching of Jesus and in 
His treatment of women, which were unusual 
among the Hebrews, and were in advance of that 
age, may be seen the beginning of woman’s eman- 
cipation and elevation, which from that time 
have been slowly coming to her, and which it is 
well for her to gratefully acknowledge by re- 
echoing through the ages the thanksgiving “my 
spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour.” ? 

A large part of Luke’s Gospel (Ch. 10-19) is 
a narrative of the ministry in Perea, which is re- 
corded in this Gospel only. This agrees with 
what early writers have told us concerning this 
Gospel and its author. They tell us that when 
Luke wrote this Gospel, the Gospels of Matthew 
and Mark had already been written, and were 
_ widely circulated, and well known in the Church. 
Luke being familiar with these Gospels, and see- 
ing that they did not record the important min- 
istry in Perea, supplied what they omitted. In 
doing this he was consistently fulfilling his pur- 


1 Luke 238: 27. 
2Luke 1:47. 


58 STUDIES IN THE GOSPELS 


pose, declared in the introduction to his Gos- 
pel, which was “to set forth in order a declar- 
ation” of what Jesus did and taught until the 
day of His Ascension. Another reason for giv- 
ing to this ministry in Perea so large and prom- 
inent a place in his Gospel may be found in the 
fact that this region, east of the river Jordan, 
was largely inhabited by Greeks, this appears in 
the name given to a group of its towns called 
Decapolis, a Greek word meaning ten cities. 
Luke being himself a Greek was specially inter- 
ested in this missionary journey and work among 
his own countrymen of that region, and this 
interest would be shared and felt by those 
readers of his narrative whom he had spe- 
cially in mind, for, as we have seen, this Gospel 
written by Luke is believed to have been spe- 
cially addressed and adapted to Greek people. 

Intelligent and attentive readers may be left 
to discover other points of correspondence and 
agreement between the contents of this Gospel, 
and that which competent witnesses have writ- 
ten of it and of its author. 


VI 
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. JOHN 


In passing from the Synoptic Gospels to the 
Gospel according to St. John, we are conscious 
of an abrupt change: we breathe another atmos- 
phere; we are surrounded by different conditions ; 
anew generation is living and is to be dealt with; 
Jerusalem and its temple are in ashes; the Jews 
without a country, and without a sanctuary, are 
dispersed among the nations. These changed 
conditions appear in this Gospel. That its au- 
thor was the aged Apostle John cannot reason- 
ably be questioned; the fact was generally ac- 
cepted and strongly attested from the beginning. 
The grounds on which this belief rests, as well 
as difficulties and objections met in accepting 
and maintaining it, will be considered later. 
We will proceed by the same method which we 
have followed in the preceding chapters—first 
asking who and what was John, the accredited 
author of this Gospel. 

The Apostle John, and his brother James, also 
an Apostle, were sons of Zebedee and Salome. 
The incidental mention of hired servants, who 


remained with their father when his sons left to 
59 


60 STUDIES IN THE GOSPELS 


follow Jesus, and the fact that Salome was one 
of the women of Galilee who followed and min- 
istered to Jesus of their substance, and also that 
Salome was one of those who brought costly 
ointment and spices to embalm His dead body, 
and that John had his own house to which, after 
the Crucifixion, he took Mary the mother of 
Jesus, these facts taken together, plainly indi- 
cate that the family was in comfortable circum- 
stances and was of the middle class, This does 
not disagree with their occupation as fishermen, 
which was a reputable and profitable business 
among the Hebrews. It was a prudent and ex- 
emplary practice that every man, whatever his 
social position, or his prospects in life, should 
learn and have some practical employment as a 
livelihood; in accordance with this custom, 
Jesus the prophet of Nazareth was a carpenter, 
and Paul the learned Rabbi was a tent-maker. 
It was a proverbial saying of the Rabbis that a 
father who permits his son to grow up without 
a practical trade is as one who plants a vineyard 
and neglects to enclose it with a hedge. These 
apostles who were fishermen, occasionally re- 
sumed and practised their trade, even after they 
had become avowed disciples and authorized 
Apostles." 

John, James and Peter were the chosen and 

1 John 21:3. 


ST. JOHN 61 


favored three who were drawn into closest and 
most intimate relations with Jesus; they were 
with Him in the death chamber where He raised 
the daughter of Jairus, when all others were ex- | 
cluded; they only were with Him on the mount 
of Transfiguration; and also were chosen to be 
near during His agony in Gethsemane. Of these 
three John was the closest to Jesus; at The Last 
Supper he was at His side, and leaned upon His 
breast; he came to be generally known as “that 
disciple whom Jesus loved.” When Salome, mis- 
apprehending the nature of the kingdom which 
had been promised and proclaimed by Jesus, and 
indulging a mistaken ambition for her two sons, 
asked that they might receive the highest places 
of honor, the sons joined in her request and 
were warned that nearness to Him involved suf- 
fering and death,—a readiness to be baptized 
with His baptism and to drink of His cup. A 
few years later James experienced the fulfill- 
ment of these words by suffering a painful 
death ordered by King Herod Agrippa.t In 
John the prophecy was fulfilled not by an early 
and violent death, but by dying daily during a 
life so prolonged that it gave rise to the belief 
that he would never die, but would tarry to wit- 
ness the final return of Jesus. In the closing 
words of what may have been his latest writing, 
1 Acts 12: 2, 


62 STUDIES IN THE GOSPELS 


we seem to hear a tone of weariness, and a yearn- 
ing to be at rest—“even so come Lord Jesus.” * 

In the book of The Acts John seldom appears, 
when seen he is always with Peter and in the 
background. The New Testament leaves him in 
Jerusalem, where Paul found him, and called 
him one of the “pillars” of the Church.” In that 
city appears to have been his own house, to which 
he took the mother of Jesus to care for her as 
for his own mother, complying with the dying re- 
quest of Jesus.2 It was probably after her 
death that he went to Ephesus to preside over 
the churches of Asia, which had been planted 
by Paul, and were beginning to experience the 
errors and evils which Paul foresaw and fore- 
told as “grievous wolves not sparing the flock,” * 
These were rebuked and restrained by John’s 
personal presence and writings. 

Polycrates, who succeeded John as bishop of 
Ephesus towards the close of the second cen- 
tury, wrote that John was one of the “Lights of 
Asia,” and that he died at Ephesus, and there 
was buried.’ Irenzeus, and Clement of Alex- 

1 Rev. 22: 20. 

2Gal. 2:19. 

3 John 19: 27. 

4Acts 20: 29. 

5 Robert Browning’s “Death in the Desert” should be 


read for its devotional thought and feeling; but it is a 
poetical fiction, not based on historical facts, 


ST. JOHN 63 


andria, and others tell that John lived till Tra- 
jan became Emperor of Rome (98 A. D.). 

Many interesting legends and traditions clus- 
ter about his life and death, telling of his banish- 
ment to Patmos in the reign of Domitian (81-95 
A.D.); of his miraculous deliverance when 
thrown by his persecutors into a cauldron of 
burning oil at Rome; and of his extreme old age 
at Ephesus when he could neither stand nor 
walk, and with difficulty was carried to church 
in the arms of his disciples, and being unable to 
utter many words would only give the benedic- 
tion, and the exhortation—“‘Little children love 
one another.” * His hearers, perhaps wearied 
by always hearing the same words, asked him— 
“Master, why dost thou always say this?” His 
reply was—“It is the Lord’s command, and if 
only this be done it is enough.” ? 

That John was the author of the Gospel which 
now bears his name has been questioned by mod- 
ern scholars notwithstanding strong evidence of 
the fact, and the almost unanimous belief of the 
Christian Church. Of the difficulties and objec- 
tions urged against accepting the Apostle John 
as the author, some are found in the Gospel it- 


1J John 2:1. 

2These and other legends told of the Apostle John are 
given by F. W. Farrar in his “Early Days of Christianity” 
—Chap. 26, 


64 STUDIES IN THE GOSPELS 


’ 4 





\ 


self, and will be considered later when we open 


the Gospel to examine its contents; others, re- 
lating to testimony given by early writers, may 
be considered now while external evidence is be- 
ing considered. 

One of these difficulties is found in the fact 
that Papias is quoted by later writers as stating 
that James and John were put to death by the 
Jews. We know this to be true of James as re- 
corded in the book of The Acts; 1 if it were true 
of his brother John, it would contradict many 
early writers and traditions, and would make 
impossible John’s authorship of the fourth Gos- 
pel. But it is not true, and if Papias made this 
statement, which is doubtful, either he, or those 
who quoted his words confused John the Apostle 
with John the Baptist, who, as we know, was 
put to death by the Jews. The manner in which 
the supposed statement of Papias is quoted makes 
room for this explanation. 

Another difficulty found in the testimony given 
by early writers is that Papias appears to men- 
tion two different persons by the name of John, 
of whom one was unmistakably the Apostle 
John, the other was called “John the elder,” and 
is thought by some to have been the author of the 
fourth Gospel, and the “disciple whom Jesus 
loved.” The words of Papias which may be 

1 Acts 12: 2. 


ST. JOHN 65 


so understood are obscure and ambiguous, and 
probably indicate not two different men, but one 
man who is mentioned twice, first as John the 
Apostle, and again as “John the elder.” This 
title could be given to the Apostle, for the word 
“elder” or “presbyter” was used in the New 
Testament to signify any teacher or officer of 
the Christian Church; the Apostle Peter called 
himself an elder.t. Much useless controversy 
has centred around these words, but the tradi-. 
tional person of the “Presbyter John” appears 
to have been no other than the Apostle John.? 

It is fortunate that to meet ingenious and per- 
sistent attacks made against the authorship of 
this Gospel, we have testimony of early writers 
that is exceptionally strong and convincing. 
This Gospel was known and publicly read in the 
churches early in the second century, and was 
believed to be the work of the Apostle John. It 
is included in the list of the New Testament 
writings given in the Muratorian Canon.’ Its 

1 Peter 5:1. . 

2. W. Farrar in “The Early Days of Christianity.” 
Appendix, Excursus XIV, shows that John the apostle and 
John the elder were identical. 

8 The Muratorian Canon (for which see Appendix, page 
91) contains this interesting tradition. “The fourth Gospel 
by John, one of the disciples, who when his fellow-disciples 
and bishops earnestly pressed him, said ‘fast with me today 


and for three days, and let us tell one another any reve- 
lation which may be made to us either for or against,’ 


66 STUDIES IN THE GOSPELS 


contents are woven into Tatian’s Diatessaron. 
It is included in the Syrian version, and in the 
Latin. Prayers in the Didache closely resemble 
passages in this Gospel. Polycrates, bishop of 
Ephesus, where John lived and died, Theophilus 
of Antioch, and others, in quoting this Gospel 
ascribe it to John the Apostle. The most im- 
portant of these witnesses is Irenzeus, who knew 
Polycarp the friend and disciple of the Apostle 
John, and therefore had exeeptional opportunity 
to know about John and his work. Ireneus is 
unhesitating and positive in asserting that the 
Apostle John wrote this Gospel while he was 
living at Ephesus in Asia. Somewhat later, 
towards the end of the second century, Clement 
of Alexandria summed up the testimony which 
had been handed down to his time in the follow- 
ing celebrated words which are quoted by 
Eusebius. “John last of all, perceiving that 
what had reference to the body in the Gospel 
of our Saviour, was sufficiently detailed, and 
being encouraged by his familiar friends, and 
urged by the Spirit, wrote a spiritual Gospel, 
that is, one suited to teach the spiritual meaning 
of the incidents which others had recorded.” 


On the same night it was revealed to Andrew, one of the 
Apostles, that John should write all in his own name, and 
that all should review.” 

1Ece. Hist. 6:14, 


ST. JOHN 67 


Now we will study the Gospel itself, learning 
whether its contents agree with what has been 
said of it, and of its author. 

A previous page postponed, and promised to 
mention here in this connection, some difficulties 
found in this Gospel, which indicate that the 
Apostle John was not its author. One of these 
difficulties is that the gentle and loving spirit 
expressed in this Gospel does not accord with 
the vehemence and intensity ascribed to the 
Apostle John by Jesus, in calling him and his 
brother James “sons of thunder.” + This ob- 
jection does not make allowance for the growth in 
grace, and the development of personal character, 
which might be attained during a long life of 
ripening experience, influenced by the Holy 
Spirit. When writing this Gospel, the young en- 
thusiast seen in the Synoptic Gospels had grown 
to be the aged saint of the fourth Gospel. 

Another objection, issuing from the same 
source, is that the familiar and fluent use of the 
Greek language which is seen in the fourth 
- Gospel is not the literary style in which a Gali- 
lean Hebrew would write, and that it does not 
correspond with other writings ascribed to John. 
This may be answered by pointing to some Ar- 
amaic forms of expression in the Greek of this 
Gospel, also by suggesting that like Paul, John 

1 Mark 3:17, 


68 STUDIES IN THE GOSPELS 


may have employed a Greek amanuensis to write 
at his dictation. Also it is well known, and gen- 
erally admitted, that a writer’s literary style and 
form of expression at one period of his life, 
may differ from that used in another period; 
and that circumstances and conditions existing 
at the time of writing may materially affect, and 
may even alter his handling of words and 
phrases. 

The contents of this Gospel show that its 
author had intimate and accurate knowledge of 
the geography of Palestine, and that he was no 
stranger in different parts and localities of the 
Holy City, and that he also was familiar with the 
racial customs and religious observances of the 
Jews, and was personally known in the house- 
hold of the High Priest.’ All these indications 
in the Gospel point to the Apostle John as its 
author. 

What we have learned of this Gospel from out- 
side sources explains its omission of important 
events, such as the predictions and promises 
of the birth of Jesus, His infancy, childhood and 
boyhood, His baptism in the river Jordan, His 
temptation in the wilderness, His institution of 
The Lord’s Supper, and His agony in Gethsem- 
ane. These are omitted in John’s Gospel be- 
cause they had been sufficiently recorded and 

1 John 18: 16, 


ST. JOHN 69 


made known by the three Gospels which were al- 
ready written, and were publicly read in the 
Christian assemblies. Instead of repeating the 
well-known facts, this Gospel gives their inner 
meaning and spiritual import. For example, al- 
though John omits the institution of The Lord’s 
Supper, he is careful to record, and he alone does 
record, the discourse on the Bread of Life * which 
anticipated and taught what that sacrament 
means and symbolizes, namely: that our spiritual 
life is a partaking and personal appropriating of 
the life which Jesus imparts, the sacrament is 
an outward visible sign putting into action what 
Jesus had before put into words, the words which 
are in John’s Gospel only—‘“except ye eat the 
flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood ye 
have no life in you.” “He that cometh to Me 
shall never hunger, and he that believeth in Me 
shall never thirst.” 

This Gospel does the like in recording the 
profound and precious discourses which were 
spoken by Jesus to His disciples while they were 
lingering in the upper room after the appoint- 
ment of The Lord’s Supper. The other evangel- 
ists have recorded what St. Clement called 
“bodily acts,” but John, omitting these, gives 
spiritual teachings which they embody. With 
reverent hand he draws aside the veil, which 

1 John 6: 26-59. 


70 STUDIES IN THE GOSPELS 


soon was to be rent in twain, admitting us to a 
Holy of Holies, that we may stand before the 
mercy seat and behold the true Shekinah— 
“God manifest in flesh,’ and may hear Him 
speaking, not as to servants, but confidentially 
as to friends, and then, with upturned face and 
uplifted heart, praying to His Father that those 
whom He was about to leave might be not taken 
out of the world, but kept from its evil, until 
He return to take them unto Himself that where 
He is they also may be. Where could we expect 
this intimate opening of the heart of Jesus 
except in the Gospel written by the disciple whom 
Jesus loved, and who, as on that evening, was 
ever resting on the Saviour’s breast? 

In reading this Gospel we are left in doubt 
whether some of its words were spoken by Jesus 
Himself, or were added by John as his comment 
to unfold and explain the meaning of what 
Jesus said. In the Synoptic Gospels, on the 
contrary, we experience no such difficulty, they 
show unmistakably what they record as words 
spoken by Jesus. This peculiarity of John’s 
Gospel sometimes requires in the reader a care- 
ful discernment in order to avoid a misunder- 
standing or incongruity. For instance, in the 
conversation with Nicodemus, did Jesus say that 
then while talking with the Jewish ruler He, 


ST. JOHN 71 


the Son of Man, was in Heaven?* This would 
be a self-evident incongruity, or a teaching con- 
cerning His humanity which is not found else- 
where in the Gospels. But if in these words 
John was adding his own comment to explain to 
his readers what Jesus had said, then the whole 
passage is clear and congruous, for at the time 
when John was writing, the Ascension had taken 
place, and the Son of Man was in Heaven. This 
characteristic of John’s Gospel frequently ap- 
pears, and is what we might expect to find in a 
writer, who, through more than a half century 
of recollection and meditation and teaching, had 
made his own that which he had heard his 
Divine Master say and teach. What Jesus Him- 
self had spoken, and what John by personal 
experience had found and proved His words to 
mean, had blended into one in this writer’s 
loving mind and loyal life, and as a result they 
are at times interchangeable in his Gospel. 

The part of this Gospel which is contained 
in its last chapter is evidently a later addition 
appended either by the Apostle himself, or, which 
is more probable, by others after his death. 
As first written and given to the Church this 
Gospel ended with the twentieth chapter. This 
addition was made to correct a misunderstanding 

1 John 8:13. 


(2 STUDIES IN THE GOSPELS 


of what Jesus had said to Peter concerning John: 
“Tf I will that he tarry till I come what is 
that to thee?” These words gave rise to the 
belief that John would not die, but would sur- 
vive to witness the final coming of Jesus as it 
was then understood and anticipated. This be- 
lief was strengthened and seemed to be justified 
by John’s prolonged life. John’s death, whether 
it had already occurred, or was about to occur, 
would be looked upon as a failure of this sup- 
posed: prediction and promise, and would result 
in a loss of faith in Jesus and His promises. 
To prevent this by correcting the misunder- 
standing, this chapter was added, quoting cor- 
rectly the words spoken by Jesus, and giving 
their true meaning. Probably this addition was 
made by the elders at Ephesus, after the death 
of John. If this be so, we have in their closing 
words their testimony given to the truth of this 
Gospel, and to its author: ‘This is the disciple 
that beareth witness of these things, and wrote 
these things, and we know that his witness is 
true.” Then, with a change from the plural 
number of the pronoun to the singular, follows 
what may be taken as words written by the 
amanuensis who was employed in writing this 
addition, and who in his own person adds: 
“There are also many other things which Jesus 
did” ete. 


ST. JOHN 73 


Will not any unprejudiced mind in reading 
these words, receive from them the impression 
that the subject of them is John the Apostle, and 
the author of this Gospel? 


VII 
THE FOUR AGREE 


Thus far we have been emphasizing the dis- 
tinctive features and characteristic differences 
of the Gospels. Before leaving the subject we 
may well call attention to the fact that sub- 
stantially, and in essentials, all four Gospels 
agree. This general agreement is remarkable 
considering the individuality of the writers, the 
different places and circumstances in which they 
wrote, and the special purpose and readers which 
each had in mind while writing. This agree- 
ment of the four evangelists was a fulfillment of 
their Lord’s promise that the Holy Spirit would 
take of His and show to them, and would “lead 
them into all the truth.” What appear to us 
to be discrepancies would be explained and har- 
monized if we were so well informed, and so fami- 
liar with, all the facts as they were who recorded 
them. All four evangelists agree in their por- 
trayal of the persons who appear in their several 
narratives. For example, the Apostle Peter 


1 John 16: 18. 
74 


THE FOUR AGREE 15 


shows the same traits, virtues, and faults, where- 
ever he is seen. ‘The chief purpose of the Gos- 
pels is to record, and testify what Jesus was, and 
spake, and did; they do this without contradic- 
tion or discrepancy. He is always and every- 
where essentially the same and _ consistent, 
whether as the Messiah in Matthew, as the Son 
of God in Mark, as the Son of Man in Luke, or as 
the Eternal Logos in John, even as believers, in 
all times and places, have found Him to be “the 
same, yesterday, today, and forever.” * 
1 Heb. 13:8. 


Noun 
AN OUTLINE OF THE LIFE OF JESUS 


In either reading or studying the Gospel, it 
is helpful and important to have in mind, and 
to hold at command, ready to be used promptly, 
some outline of the life of Jesus, such as will 
enable us to know promptly and positively in 
what part of His life given events occurred, and 
certain teachings were uttered. His acts and 
words gain meaning for us when we know the 
place where, and the time when, His acts were 
done, and His words were spoken, and how they 
are related to each other, and to His life as a 
whole. Such knowledge does not necessarily re- 
sult from our usual reading and study of the 
gospels. However familiar we may be with texts 
and separate passages, we may not have learned 
the relation of these parts to one another and 
to the whole. We may not be aware of our ig- 
norance of this, and of the loss thereby incurred, 
until attention is specially directed to it. The 
evangelists do not attempt to give a complete 


and continuous narrative of their Lord’s life. 
76 


OUTLINE OF THE LIFE OF JESUS 17 


They give memoirs, not biographies. Even 
Luke, who is more of an historian than the others, 
and who in the introduction to his Gospel de- 
clares his purpose “to set forth in order a 
declaration of those things which are most cer- 
tainly believed among us”; yet even he does not 
always follow the sequence of events, but oc- 
casionally departs from it, in order to best serve 
the special purposes which he had in writing his 
Gospel. Desire to construct a complete and con- 
tinuous narrative by rearranging in historical 
order the contents of the four Gospels, has found 
expression from the time when in the middle of 
the second century, Tatian wrote his harmony 
of the four Gospels, called the “Diatessaron.” 
These numerous lives of Jesus which have been 
written, are too elaborate and too full of details 
to serve the purpose of an outline. Our outline 
should be brief in order to be easily held in 
memory, and to be readily applied. It should 
turn upon the salient points, and indicate the 
significant changes in our Lord’s life. The once 
popular custom of using for this purpose the 
Hebrew Passovers which occurred during our 
Lord’s lifetime seems to be arbitrary and arti- 
ficial. The Passovers are not so intimately 
related to His life as to determine its course and 


1 Justin Martyr in his defence of Christianity addressed 
to the Roman Senate, called the Gospels ‘‘memoirs.” 


78 STUDIES IN THE GOSPELS 


movements. Even less natural and significant 
is the proposed division of His life into these 
three parts: first, a year of obscurity, second, a 
year of popularity, third, a year of opposition. 
He did not seek nor follow popularity, nor did 
He turn aside from His path and purpose be- 
cause of opposition. Although He was not goy- 
erned by external circumstances, yet He met, as 
every human life does meet, eventful experiences 
and turning-points, which prompted Him to de- 
cide where He would go, and what He would do. 
Our outline should mark these crises, and should 
follow these turns, making these its dividing 
points, and in strict agreement with these, ar- 
ranging the few and significant periods into 
which His life may be divided. These require- 
ments appear to be met in the following outline, 
which has been found by many to be practical 
and helpful. 

I. His Preparation for His Public Ministry. 

About thirty years, including His Birth, 
Growth, Private Life, Baptism, Temptation. 

If. Short Ministry in Judea. 

About eight months, including His first public 
act, namely, Cleansing the Temple, His interview 
with Nicodemus, His ministry in rural parts of 
Judea. 

III. Ministry in Galilee. 


OUTLINE OF THE LIFE OF JESUS 79 


About two years. In three parts: 

Part 1. From arrival in Galilee to choosing 
the Twelve Apostles. Rejection at Nazareth; 
Makes Capernaum “His own City”; Ministry in 
Capernaum; Enlargement and success of His 
work which results in choosing the Twelve. 

Part 2. From choosing the Twelve to with- 
drawal into Northern Galilee; Teaching; 
Preaching tours; The crisis; Desertion of fol- 
lowers. 

Part 3. Retirement in Northern Galilee to 
His departure for Jerusalem. Teaching the 
Apostles; Peter’s Confession; Foretells his death 
and resurrection; The Transfiguration; Visits to 
Capernaum and to Jerusalem. 

IV. Journey and Ministry in Perea until His 
final arrival at Jerusalem. 

About six months. Appoints The Seventy; 
Teaching and Healing; Visits to Jerusalem and 
Bethany; Raises the buried Lazarus. 

V. The Holy Week. 

VI. The Risen Life. 

Rises from the grave; Reappears during Forty 
Days; Ascends to Heaven; Gives the Holy Spirit ; 
Reigns in Heaven while governing and guiding 
His Church on earth. 

In teaching children, this outline may be ex- 
tended, and may be fastened in their minds by 


80 STUDIES IN THE GOSPELS 


using the following kindergarten method, which 
although childlike, has interested and helped 
mature and cultivated minds. 

Let the child use his ten fingers to represent 
ten periods of our Lord’s life and work. Begin 
with the little finger of the left hand. 

I. The Period of the Preparation, beginning 
with the little child Jesus. 

II. The short ministry in Judea. The second 
and short finger. 

III. The middle and longest ministry (Gal.- 
lean). The middle and longest finger, which 
has three parts as this Period has. 

IV. The short ministry and journey in Perea, 
fourth finger. 

V. The Holy Week. Differs from all the 
others, the thumb, differing from the fingers. 

VI. The Resurrection, in which Jesus passes 
over to another life, as in counting the fingers 
we pass over to another hand. 

VII. The Forty Days. Reappearing and 
teaching the things concerning the Kingdom. 
The index finger, so called because used in point- 
ing out and teaching. 

VIII. The Ascension. 

IX. He gives the Holy Spirit. 

X. He reigns in Heaven, while governing and 
eniding His Church on earth. 


OUTLINE OF THE LIFE OF JESUS 8&1 


The aid received, and the increased meaning 
gained by using such an outline, are exemplified 
by observing the place and time in which the 
Transfiguration occurred. It was during the re- 
tirement in Northern Galilee. Jesus had been 
plainly telling His disciples of His approaching 
crucifixion and death, they were overcome by 
sorrow and dismay. To cheer and comfort them, 
and to give them an assurance, which in their 
coming trial they could recall to strengthen 
and support their faith and hope, they were per- 
mitted to behold the Divine Glory which dwelt, 
but was hid, in the human body of Jesus, and 
which would finally triumph over His enemies. 
The appearing of Moses representing the law, 
and of Elijah representing the prophets, and 
their talking with Jesus of that which He had 
been telling His disciples, was evidence that what 
they apprehended was a fulfillment of the law 
and the prophets, and was the divinely appointed 
way by which He would be glorified. At no 
other time and in no other circumstances would 
the Transfiguration have been so significant, 
and so helpful to the Apostles and to us. 

Another illustration of the helpful use of an 
outline appears in assigning the correct time and 
sequence to the Raising of Lazarus. This proof 
of His power over death and the grave, Jesus 


82 STUDIES IN THE GOSPELS 


gave during His last journey, when He was draw- 
ing near to His own death, burial, and resurrec- 
tion. 


These studies may end appropriately and prof- 
itably with the reflection that although by study 
we can gain knowledge about Jesus, and even 
such knowledge of Him is of inestimable value, 
for to know God and Jesus Christ whom He has 
sent is eternal life; 1 yet, in order to know Him 
personally and truly, we must heed and accept 
the invitation which He gave, and which was ex- 
tended by others to “come and see.” 7 We must 
not rest content with a second-hand knowledge 
received through others, even though those others 
be inspired evangelists. One of them is careful 
to tell us this, saying that they would lead us in 
order to bring us to that which they themselves 
found—“that which we have seen and heard de- 
clare we unto you, that ye also may have fellow- 
ship with us; and truly our fellowship is with 
the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ.” ® 
So we may fancy a river to be saying to the 
streamlets which it meets in its onward course, 
“come let us unite, mingle with mine your waters 
that, becoming one, we may flow on to become 

1John 17:3. 


2 John 1:39, 46. 
8] John 1:38. 


OUTLINE OF THE LIFE OF JESUS 83 


part of the beautiful and boundless deep.” 
Jesus would have us to know Him not merely as 
servants, but as his personal “friends,” and, as we 
know, friendship is the result of companionship, 
and intimate intercourse. Our religious convic- 
tions and confidence, in order to endure the stress 
of time and change, and the storm of opposing 
forces, must not be built upon shifting sands of 
human opinion, but upon the rock of practical 
obedience, and personal experience; what Jesus 
declared and showed Himself to be, what He was 
and is, what He has done, and is doing, both 
in us, and in the world, what we have found Him 
to be, this is our richest and most reliable 
knowledge of Him, and that which He is most 
eager to impart. He has told us that His doc- 
trine is known by doing His will.’ He has de- 
clared Himself to be “the way,” and as we all 
know, a way becomes plain by being walked in 
and well worn. The powers of the world to 
come * are felt by responding and yielding to 
them. 


‘‘The love of Jesus what it is, 
None but His loved ones know.’’ 


} John 7:21 7; 
2 Heb. 6:5. 


APPENDIX 


Testimony given to the Writings of the New Testa- 
ment in the first and second centuries. 


A. D. 


. Clement of Rome about 100 
. Ignatius bishop of Antioch, died a martyr 115 
. Polycarp bishop of Smyrna, died an aged 


martyr 155 
. Epistle of Barnabas— - between 96 and 120 
. The Shepherd of Hermas— between 130 and 160 
. Irenzeus of Lyons and Vienne, died 180 
. Papias bishop of Hierapolis, died about 180 
. Justin Martyr, died about 155 
. Tatian author of Diatessaron, ete., died about 160 
. Epistle to Diognetus— about 160 
. Theophilus of Antioch, died about 180 


. Hippolytus of Rome— 


second half of second century. 


. Polycrates bishop of Ephesus— 


end of second century. 


. The Didache, or ‘‘Teaching of the Twelve 


Apostles’ ’— about 100 


. The Muratorian Fragment, or Canon— about 170 
. The Old Latin Version— 


middle of the second century. 


. The Peshito or Syrian Version— 


late in the second century. 
84 


APPENDIX 85 


Notes on the witnesses and writings named in the 
foregoing list. 

These witnesses, and writings, with others which 
might be added to this list, are so linked to one an- 
other that they form a continuous unbroken chain of 
evidence extending from the death of the Apostle 
John, to the end of the second century. Every year 
of this period had two or more living witnesses to 
attest and transmit the writings of the New Testa- 
ment. The dates which are given here are approx- 
imate, and are generally accepted as correct. 

1. Clement, Bishop of Rome, is believed to have 
been the friend of St. Paul named by him in Philip 
4:3. His letter to the church in Corinth, written in 
the first century, rebukes and seeks to reconcile dis- 
putes and dissensions in that chureh, such as Paul re- 
buked in his Epistles to the Corinthians. This letter 
has been preserved and transmitted to us in only one 
manuscript. Although frequently mentioned by 
early writers, it disappeared and was inaccessible to 
European scholars until it was found appended to 
the canonical books in the famous Alexandrian manu- 
seript of the Bible, which was given by Cyril, Patri- 
arch of Constantinople, to Charles I, and is now 
in the British Museum. That it should be recog- 
nized as part of the New Testament, and should be 
included in the canon, was claimed for it during a 
long period of the early Church. A second epistle, 
and. other writings were ascribed to Clement but 
probably are not his. 

2. Ignatius, bishop of Antioch, knew the Apostles, 


86 STUDIES IN THE GOSPELS 


and was a disciple of St. John. He was ealled 
‘‘Theophorus’’ because he bore Christ in his heart. 
His epistles which have come down to us, were writ- 
ten to several churches, and were quoted by contem- 
poraneous writers, and are proved to be genuine by 
manuscripts which have been rediscovered by modern 
scholars. He was arrested at Antioch during a visit 
of the Emperor Trajan to that city, and was carried 
to Rome; on the way he landed at Smyrna, and had 
an interview with Polyearp. At Rome he was given 
to the lions in the theatre to amuse the populace in 
the year 115. 

3. Polycarp, disciple and friend of the Apostle 
John, was bishop of Smyrna, one of the seven 
churches addressed in the book of the Revelations 
(2:8). His letter, written to the Church at Philippi, 
resembles the Epistles of John. He was burned at 
the stake as a Christian martyr in extreme old age, 
in the year 155. At his trial.the Proconsul, by 
threats and entreaties, tried to persuade him to re- 
cant, saying: ‘‘Have respect to thy old age. Re- 
proach Christ and I will set thee at liberty.’’ But 
Polyearp replied: ‘‘EHighty and six years have I 
served Him, and He never did me any injury; how 
then can I blaspheme my King and my Saviour ?’’ 

4. ‘The Epistle of Barnabas’’ was ascribed to the 
Apostle Barnabas who was the friend and fellow- 
worker of St. Paul, but that he was its author 
cannot be proved, and is not probable. It was writ- 
ten in Greek, and was addressed to those Christians 


APPENDIX 87 


who adhered too tenaciously and too literally to the 
Mosaic law and observances, and whose opinions and 
practices were such as Paul rebuked in his Epistle 
to the Galatians. It makes abundant use of allego- 
ries, and mystical interpretations of Scripture, which 
was a method of teaching customary among the later 
Jews. Its chief value is the testimony which it bears 
to the New Testament writings. 

5. ““The Shepherd (or Pastor) of Hermas’’ was 
ascribed by some writers of the second century to 
the Hermas named by St. Paul in his Epistle to the 
Romans (15:14). While its authorship is uncertain, 
the time in which it was written is clearly indicated 
by its contents. Written in Greek, it records visions 
for the instruction and encouragement of the Church. 
It is named in the Muratorian Canon, and appears to 
have been publicly read in the Christian Churches as 
part of their sacred Seriptures. It was translated 
into Latin and other languages, and was widely cir- 
culated. Its popularity has been likened to that of 
Bunyan’s ‘‘ Pilgrim’s Progress,’’ to which it has some 
resemblance. Its chief value is its mention of cus- 
toms and practices of the early church, and the in- 
dication which it gives of the kind of literature which 
was widely circulated, and read by Christians of that 
time. 

6. Ireneeus, a presbyter of Lyons (a city in Gaul), 
was a contemporary and disciple of Polyearp. Of his 
many writings the best known is his ‘‘Refutation of 
Heresies.’’ His letter written to his friend Rufinus 


88 STUDIES IN THE GOSPELS 


and referring to Polycarp, is quoted by Eusebius in 
his Eeclesiastical History (V:20) and is of sufficient 
interest to be inserted here: 


‘IT saw thee, when I was still a boy in Lower 
Asia, in company with Polyearp, while thou wast 
faring prosperously in the royal court, and endeay- 
ouring to stand well with him. For I distinctly 
remember the incidents of that time better than 
events of recent occurrence; for the lessons received 
in childhood, growing with the growth of the soul, 
become identified with it, so that I can describe the 
very place in which the blessed Polycarp used to 
sit when he discoursed, and his goings out and his 
comings in, and his manner of life, and his per- 
sonal appearance, and the discourses which he held 
before the people, and how he would describe his 
intercourse with John,.and with the rest who had 
seen the Lord, and how he would relate their words. 
And whatsoever things he had heard from them 
about the Lord, and about His miracles, and about 
His teaching, Polycarp, as having received them 
from eyewitnesses of the life of the Word, would 
relate altogether in accordance with the Scriptures. 
To these discourses I used to listen at the time, with 
attention by God’s mercy which was bestowed upon 
me, noting them down, not on paper, but in my 
heart; and by the grace of God I constantly rumi- 
nate upon them faithfully.’’ 


7. Papias, bishop of Hierapolis (a city near Ephe- 
sus) was a friend of Polycarp, and of others who 


APPENDIX 89 


knew some of the Apostles. From them he gathered 
that which he wrought into his ‘‘ Exposition of the 
Sayings of Jesus.’’ This book, written in five parts, 
is interestingly related to our Lord’s five discourses 
in the gospel according to St. Matthew. See page 41. 
None of the writings of Papias are now extant, but 
extracts from them have been preserved, and are given 
by Eusebins (Hist., Ecc. 3:39). In 1886 Dr. Tischen- 
dorf discovered in the Vatican Library, an ancient 
manuscript which, in a preface to St. John’s Gospel, 
quotes ‘‘Papias the beloved disciple of John’’ as testi- 
fying that John’s Gospel was proclaimed and given to 
the Church while that Apostle was still living. 

8. Justin Martyr, born of Gentile parents in the 
ancient city Sichem, the capital of Samaria, was a 
learned philosopher. Unsatisfied with results of his 
profound and comprehensive studies, he turned to 
Christianity, became a believer, and wrote ‘‘apolo- 
gies,’’ that is, defences of the Christian religion, some 
of which he courageously addressed to the emperor 
and senate of Rome. He was beheaded at Rome as 
a Christian martyr in the reign of Antoninus Pius 
(138-161 a.p.). 

9. Tatian, a disciple and friend of Justin Martyr, 
was an Assyrian, and a student of Greek philosophy. 
He became a Christian through study of Old Testa- 
ment Scriptures. Without laying aside his philos- 
opher’s mantle he became a Christian teacher and 
lecturer at Rome. He was the author of many writ- 
ings, of which the most famous was his ‘‘Diates- 
saron’’ (a Greek word meaning by means of the 


90 STUDIES IN THE GOSPELS 


four). It was a harmony of the four Gospels, writ- 
ten not to reconcile their differences and discrep- 
ancies, but to arrange the contents of the four Gospels 
so as to form in the words used by them, a continu- 
ous narrative of the life of Jesus. This Diatessaron 
was mentioned by early Christian writers, but in its 
original form seemed to be lost until a copy of it 
was found in the Vatican Library, and was published 
in 1888. 

12. Hippolytus, a voluminous writer of commen- 
taries and homilies, appears to have been a disciple 
of Ireneus. Many of his books were rediscovered 
in 1842 at mount Athos. 

13. Polyerates should interest us, for at the end . 
of the second century he was bishop of Ephesus, as 
the Apostle John had been at the end of the first 
century. Also he led the opposition to the encroach- 
ments and claims of Victor, Bishop of Rome, in the 
controversy concerning the time of observing Haster. 
So early appeared the assumptions and attempts made 
by the bishops of Rome to extend and exercise au- 
thority beyond their own diocese. As Rome was the 
imperial city, the centre and seat of a world-wide 
empire, its bishops became ambitious to make their 
diocese the seat and centre of a world-wide ecclesias- 
tical dominion. Such claims and efforts were op- 
posed by bishops of other and older dioceses, and 
finally, in the eleventh century, the Eastern Church 
separated from that of the west. 

14. ‘‘The Didache’’ or ‘‘The Teaching of the 
Twelve Apostles,’’ is a catechism or manual of Chris- 


APPENDIX 91 


tian instruction, which was often mentioned and 
quoted by early writers, but was lost until a copy 
of it was found by the Greek Bishop and Metropolitan 
Philopheus Bryennius in the library of the ‘‘Jerusa- 
lem Monastery of the Most Holy Sepulchre’’ in Con- 
stantinople, and was published in the year 1883. The 
date when it was written, and was first used in the 
Christian Church has been placed between 90 A.D. 
and 120. It opens with the words: ‘‘There are two 
ways’’ and proceeds to explain the way of life as 
it is taught in the Gospel, then it contrasts with it 
the way which leads to death. Then it gives instruc- 
tion for administering the sacraments, and for con- 
ducting public worship. 

15. ‘‘The Muratorian Fragment,’’ or ‘‘Canon,’’ is 
a mutilated manuscript of eighty-five lines of bar- 
barous Latin, apparently translated from a Greek 
original. It gives a list of canonical or accepted 
books of the New Testament. This list appears to be 
not a result of any council, or official action, but a, 
naming of the books which in the second century were 
generally accepted as authentic, and were publicly 
read in the Christian Churches. The Gospels are in- 
cluded among these books. This mutilated but valu- 
able document was found in the year 1740 by a 
scholar of Italy named Ludovico Antonius Muratori. 
He found it in a collection of theological tracts, in the 
ancient library of Ambrose in Milan, and to it was 
given the name of its discoverer. 

16. The ‘‘Old Latin Version’’ was made in the 
middle of the second century, in North Africa, and 


92 STUDIES IN THE GOSPELS 


was widely circulated and used in that part of the 
Roman Empire. The numerous copies of it became 
so full of errors that the Latin-speaking Christians 
were in danger of losing the original meaning of the 
Scriptures. To avert this danger St. Jerome, the 
most learned Biblical scholar of that age, was re- 
quested and appointed by Damascus, bishop of Rome, 
to make a new and correct translation. This was 
called the Vulgate because the Latin in which it was 
written was the vernacular or common language of 
the people. Jerome did most of this work while liv- 
ing in a cell or cave in Bethlehem, near to the 
‘Church of the Manger,’’ which marked the spot 
where, according to tradition, Jesus was born. Je- 
rome completed his work on the New Testament in 
385 A.p. and then made a Latin translation of the 
Old Testament directly from the Hebrew. As he 
probably used early manuscripts which are no longer 
extant, his version is of great value, and for a thou- 
sand years was the basis of every later version of 
the Seriptures. It was translated into English by 
scholars of the Roman Catholic Church in the famous 
college of Douay in France. This college of Eng- 
lish Roman Catholics was compelled by Huguenot 
opposition to remove temporarily to Rheims in 1578. 
There the New Testament was published and received 
the name of that place. In 1593 the college returned 
to Douay where a little later a translation of the Old 
Testament was published. Accordingly, both names 
have been given to this English version, but it is 


APPENDIX 93 


commonly known as the ‘‘Douay Bible,’’ and is the 
authorized standard Bible for English-speaking 
Roman Catholics. 

17. The second century had also a Syriac version 
of the New Testament which was read and studied, 
quoted, loved, and cherished by Christians who lived 
in Palestine and adjacent countries. This valuable 
and interesting translation is known as the Peshito, a 
Syriae word which means simple and correct, and de- 
scribes this version as confining itself to the text, 
without adding allegorical paraphrases and mystical 
comments. It also deserves this name because it is 
written in plain and simple language, such as was 
generally understood and used by the people of Pal- 
estine in their homes, in the market place, in their 
fishing boats, and in the intercourse which Jesus and 
His disciples held with each other. This Syriac ver- 
sion, carrying our thoughts back to the Palestine of 
the time when the Gospels were written, was used 
and preserved by the Maronites whose ancient home 
was the mountains of Lebanon and who, although 
originally of Syrian descent and speech, have for 
centuries adopted and used the language of their 
Arabian conquerors and rulers. This version was 
little known, and received little attention until the 
ninth century, then and from that time, largely 
through the influence of the Crusades, these scattered 
people and their literature have become better known. 
The value of this Syriac version as a testimony dating 
from the second century, and its contribution to Bib- 


94 STUDIES IN THE GOSPELS 


lical literature and learning, are now generally recog- 
nized. An English translation has placed it within 
easy reach of English readers. 

Remarkable discoveries made in recent times, of 
ancient documents of great value and interest, justify 
and encourage the hope that other literary treasures 
may be lying in obscurity, waiting to reward modern 
research and scholarship. 


The Catacombs 


The Catacombs of Rome furnish numerous and in- 
teresting evidences and illustrations of the Christian- 
ity of the first two centuries. Tradition reports that 
more than one hundred and seventy-four thousand 
Christians, many of whom were martyrs, were laid to 
rest in these subterranean quarries. More than ten 
thousand of the inscriptions on the walls have been 
deciphered. These inscriptions together with numer- 
ous pictures on the walls, illustrate the Scriptures of 
both the Old and the New Testament, and more 
clearly and vividly than even contemporaneous writ- 
ings record the religious faith, thoughts, and customs 
of Christians of that time. The heroism, earnest 
faith, and eternal hope which there find expression, 
are in striking contrast with the despair, and cynical 
indifference, written on the monuments and graves 
of contemporaneous heathen, such as the initials N.F. 
F. N.S. N.C. These Latin letters, often found, puz- 
zled explorers and antiquarians, but finally were 


APPENDIX 95 


found to mean,—Non fui (I was not), Fui (I came 
to be), Non Sum (I am not), Non Caro (I don’t care). 
This epitaph was so common and familiar at the time 
that initials alone were sufficient to indicate it. 


Note on Chapter IT, illustrating the Synoptic Problem 


Matthew’s Logia Matthew’s Gospel 


or AL 
The Sayings of Jesus. N 
Oral ie 
Gospel. | Mark’s Narrative < Luke’s Gospel 
Influenced by Influenced by 
Peter. Paul. 


The oral Gospel was taught and exemplified by 
Jesus, and was preached by his Apostles as shown in 
the book of the Acts of the Apostles. 

Matthew’s record of the ‘‘Sayings of Jesus’’ seems 
to have been the first form in which the oral Gospel 
was written. 

Mark wrote his narrative of the ‘‘ Ministry in Gal- 
lilee.’’ 

Matthew’s written ‘‘Sayings’’ were combined with 
a narrative, forming our Gospel according to St. Mat- 
thew. 

Then followed Luke, the latest of the three, using 
all the writings and reliable traditions which he could 
consult. Matthew and Luke appear to have been 
written independently of each other. 

Some scholars think that Matthew knew and used 


96 STUDIES IN THE GOSPELS 


Mark’s narrative, others think that it is improbable 
that Matthew, one of the twelve Apostles, would bor- 
row from, or would follow the narrative written by 
another. This divided opinion is indicated by the 
dotted line of the diagram. 

Mark’s Gospel shows influences of Peter’s mind and 
preaching. Luke’s Gospel shows that it was influ- 
enced by Paul. 

Some scholars have supposed that a lost manu- 
script called Ur-Mark, older than any of our Gospels, 
was used by all the Evangelists. Consideration of 
this is involved in the Synoptie Problem. That such 
a manuscript was used, or even that it ever existed 
is so uncertain, and the arguments advanced to prove 
its existence and use are so unsatisfactory and un- 
convincing, that a mere reference to it is sufficient 
in this brief manual. 


Note on Chapter IV 


The ‘‘Logia’’ or ‘‘Sayings of Jesus’’ which, ac- 
cording to Papias, were collected and recorded by the 
Apostle Matthew, have a counterpart and illustration 
in an ancient piece of papyrus recently discovered, 
on which are written in Greek five Logia, or ‘‘Sayings 
of Jesus.’’ These, although differing in outward 
form, yet in spirit and meaning resemble some of the 
sayings of Jesus recorded in the Gospels. This is 
called the Oxyrhynchus Papyrus because it was dis- 
covered in an ancient village of Egypt which was 
called by this name, and which was one of the chief 


APPENDIX 97 


centres of early Christianity. Here on the edge of 
the Libyan desert, not far from Cairo, in the year 
1897, explorations were made yielding among other 
treasures, this piece of papyrus, somewhat torn meas- 
uring 534 by 334 inches. One of these five sayings 
has become widely known and popular by being made 
the subject of a delightful Idyl, ‘‘The Toiling of 
Felix,’’ by Dr. Henry van Dyke. The date assigned 
to this papyrus is from 150 to 300 a.p. Since this 
discovery other reputed sayings of Jesus written on 
pieces of papyrus have been found. This early prac- 
tice of making memoranda or notes of the sayings of 
Jesus points back, and suggests the Apostle Matthew’s 
collection of sayings which he heard from the lips 
of his divine Teacher, and which have been pre- 
served and combined with narrative in Matthew’s 
Gospel. 


The Herods who ruled in Palestine under Roman 
Emperors 


Herod the Great. King of all Palestine 37 B.c. to 
4 A.D. 


Sons of Herod the Great 


Herod Archelaus. Ethnarch of Judea. 4 A.D. un- 
til banished in 6 A.p. Followed by Procura- 
tors. 

Herod Antipas. Tetrach of Galilee and Perea 4 a.p. 


98 STUDIES IN THE GOSPELS 


until banished in 39 a.p. He appears frequently 
in the Gospels. He was called by Jesus ‘‘That 
Fox.’’ Luke 18:32. He imprisoned and _ be- 
headed John the Baptist. Mark 6:14. To him 
Jesus was sent by Pilate. Luke 23: 7. 

Herod Phillip. Tetrarch of Iturea and Trachonitis 
Kte. 4 A.p. until he died 34 a.p. He was more 
just and gentle than his brothers. 


Herod Agrippa I. Grandson of Herod the Great, be- 
ing son of Aristobulus, was educated in Rome to- 
gether with Claudius who later became Emperor, 
and enlarged the kingdom which Caligula had 
given to Agrippa, and made him King of all 
Palestine. He reigned in great splendor until in 
44 a.p. he died of a loathsome disease. Acts 
12:23. He beheaded the Apostle James, and im- 
prisoned and would have beheaded the Apostle 
Peter. Acts 12:1. 

Herod Agrippa II. Son of Agrippa I, was only 
seventeen years old when his father died. Later 
he was made ruler of parts of Palestine, and in 
52 A.D. received the title of King. He was hated 
by the Jews, and in the Roman war (65-70) 
which resulted in taking the city and destroying 
the Temple, he joined the Romans, and aided 
Titus in besieging the city. He died in 99 a.p. 
and was the last of the Herods. This was the 
‘*King Agrippa’’ before whom the Apostle Paul 
made his defence, Acts 26. 


APPENDIX 99 


The Roman Emperors 


PURSES WE Me sail Aut se eo BRO bOs Le AL Dy 
SOT Pepa TL ths dca STi ad eae an A Sg uta W ea ds 
SAIC AMOS cir eet ie UA eh | oh Nig ea Lut 
AUISETICL INIT Roti eC) ec dy) a Peat RA Lota reais tye te 
CRLEERES. AAO SA CUA DIRS ROE OB NU a a On a 9: AR nate At Ys Vie 
Galba, Otho and Vitellius ... 68 ‘* ‘* 69 ‘§ 
ESTIGNINT Ie Choe gio ie a hee Lutes OG ine eae hak Opts 
DAIS a emi cid TRU UM hee ls Ue LO nee OLE fo 
WOOT LLAT ange ses We dna as siete Diem ne Sau OG cae 
PEIN AS TASES Oita] teil an ht OR Oe er oes 
Trajan CRP TG ne, nett SOL NOS ibe Ue PLT ge yen 
RAMEIAN ey hee Me Are ce LT Utero use ehe oat 
Antoninus Set CE rater Maat) 2 ge ba a) ROL eri 
DEBE CTIA A ULELIUS Hy rit we LOL te Gee ELE es 
Commodus AS oR AO oe Dee Peed OO) Ly Soe ted OD Fh 
LEME Tig Dy) ay (aed be aes ea Ce ead 9! PA on a 


The Reckoning of Anno Domim 


The exact year of our Lord’s birth cannot be 
learned from the Gospels alone, but can be approxi- 
mated. Different methods of reckoning time, and of 
naming dates were used by the Ancients. Some na- 
tions reckoned by dynasties, beginning at the reign of 
a certain line of kings. When Christianity began, 
and for several subsequent centuries, the most com- 
monly used, and the most familiar reckoning of time, 


100 STUDIES IN THE GOSPELS 


was from the building of Rome (Urbe Condita) v.c. 
This was gradually and finally superseded by the 
reckoning from the birth of Jesus—a. p.—which was 
introduced by a Roman Abbot named Exiguus the 
Little, who died 556 a.p. It is now known that he 
made a mistake in his reckoning,—in adjusting 
A.D. to v.c. According to Josephus, Herod died 
shortly before the Passover of the year 750 U.c. 
Jesus was born before the death of Herod, but how 
long before is a disputed question. All the data avail- 
able make it probable that Jesus was born in the year 
749 u.c.—five or six years before what is known as 
1 a.p. This question is fully discussed in The 
Student’s Life of Jesus, by G. H. Gilbert, Chapter IT, 
Page 93. 


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